Gnomic  Literature 

in  Bible  and  Apocrypha 

by 
Gerson  B.  Levi,  Ph.  D. 


v 


GNOMIC  LITERATURE 

in  Bible  and  Apocrypha 


With  Special  Reference  to 

the  Gnomic  Fragments  and  Their  Bearing  on 

the  Proverb  Collections 


By 
GERSON  B.  LEVI,  Ph.  D. 


Chicago,  1917 


Introduction 

The  fragments  of  the  Massoretic  text  of  the  Bible,  that 
are  gnomic  in  character,  though  some  of  them  have  been 
incidentally  noted  by  the  commentators,  have  never  been 
collected.  The  attempt  is  here  made,  therefore,  to  gather 
as  many  as  could  be  recognized  and  accounted  gnomic. 
When  the  mass  is  collected  and  examined,  it  serves,  it  is 
believed,  to  make  a  new  historical  background  for  the  larger 
canonical  and  post-canonical  books  of  the  gnomic  series. 
Being  in  many  cases  the  products  of  popular  speech,  and 
dealing  with  subjects  and  in  terms  unused  by  the  literary 
men — poets,  prophets  and  pragmatic  historians — these 
fragments  possess  a  vocabulary  comparatively  rich  in 
hapax  legomena.  The  comparative  study  of  these  frag- 
ments will,  moreover,  prove  that  the  dates  for  the  begin- 
nings of  literary  activity  in  old  Israel  must  be  placed  further 
back,  as  against  the  current  notion  and  tendency  to  bring 
down  and  to  postpone  the  rise  of  the  literary  craft.  At 
least,  the  discussion  of  the  passages  in  Amos,  in  particular, 
and  the  fragments  and  quotations  in  Hosea  is  aimed  to 
show  that  the  gnomic  literature  must  be  presumed  to  have 
been  in  a  flourishing  condition  and  to  have  been  possessed 
of  forms,  hitherto  assumed  to  have  been  late  in  origin, 
before  the  day  of  the  earliest  literary  prophets.  Besides  a 
preprophetic  prophetic  school  there  was  also  a  preprophetic 
gnomic  school  and  the  literary  prophets  drew  materials  and 
forms  from  both  schools.  The  form  that  by  the  com- 
mentators is  everywhere  made  prima  facie  evidence  of 
lateness  of  composition  is  here  shown  to  be,  of  necessity,  one 
of  the  very  early  forms. 


The  attempt  has  been  made,  further,  from  the  study  of 
the  fragments  extant,  to  establish  the  presence  of  a  litera- 
ture to  some  extent  heretical.  Because  it  was  heretical  it 
was  antagonized  and  later  destroyed  by  the  victorious 
school  of  the  prophets.  Nevertheless,  some  traces  still 
remain  to  speak  of  the  wide  influence  that  these  sayings 
of  the  popular  phrase  makers  had  upon  the  people.  Through 
this  examination,  it  is  hoped  that  some  gaps  left  by  the 
study  of  the  independent  groups  of  proverbs  as  found  in 
the  Wisdom  Literature  will  be  filled  up,  and  the  knowledge 
of  the  old  masters — the  wise  men — be  increased. 

There  still  remains  the  pleasant  task  of  acknowledging 
my  indebtedness  to  Professor  Morris  Jastrow,  Jr.,  for  the 
many  helpful  suggestions  given  both  as  to  the  method  and 
the  materials  of  the  work. 

GERSON  B.  LEVI. 


1.  Extent  of  the  Literature 

Two  whole  books,  one  in  the  canon  proper  and  one  in 
the  Apocrypha,  are  given  over  to  the  literature  of  proverbs, 
maxims  and  wise  sayings.  But  the  literature  is  far  more 
extensive  than  even  this  would  indicate.  For  scattered 
throughout  the  Bible,  there  are  snatches  and  frequently 
quite  large  selections  of  such  gnomic  material.  Such  selec- 
tions we  should  naturally  expect  to  find  first  of  all  in  the 
division  of  the  so-called  Wisdom  Literature.  The  Book  of 
Ecclesiastes  falls  quite  often  from  the  plane  of  the  Cynic 
Philosopher  either  to  quote  or  to  coin  a  proverb — 1,  15;  2, 
14;  3,  1-8;  4,  2-3;  5,  2:6:9;  6,  9-12;*1  7,  1-13;  8:9,  16-18; 
10,  1-13;  10,  18:20b;  etc.  Job  has  a  number  of  such  pas- 
sages—2,  4;*2  5,  5-6;  5,  19-23;  5,  7;  14,  6-10;  14,  18-19; 
15,20-35;  12,5-7;  12,11-25;  34,3;  18,5-20;  20,5;  27, 
14-23;  14,  28;  31,  40.  But  besides  these,  which  occur  in 
groups  and  are  to  be  found  in  the  Wisdom  Books,  there  are 
fragments  to  be  found  in  the  historical,  poetic  and  prophetic 
sections.  They  are  perhaps  for  this  reason  even  more  impor- 
tant for  our  study. 

Under  the  heading  ^twa ,  (compare  the  Arabic  m  th  I  "simili- 
tude" and  the  Assyrian  "mashalu"  =  "to  be  like"*3  and 
"tamshilu"  =  "a  likeness"*4  and  see  Isaiah 46, 5  'ai'trwi  na$ 
'3!btyam  I'twii  "To  whom  will  you  liken  me  and  making 
equal  compare  me,"  and  Isaiah  14,  10  r^tro:  IJ»^K  "Thou  art 
become  like  one  of  us")  we  find  in  the  Bible  proverbs  in  the 
real  sense  of  the  word.  "The  fathers  have  eaten  sour  grapes 
and  the  teeth  of  the  children  stand  on  edge  "  IDS  i^rio  nn« 
nj'npn  noan  wan  Ezekiel  18,  2.  This  proverb  is  taken 
from  the  mouth  of  the  people.  Popular  theology,  it  would 

9 


seem,  recognized  the  condition  of  hereditary  taint  and  made 
the  assumption  that  the  sins  of  the  fathers  weighed  heavily 
upon  the  shoulders  of  the  children.  The  notion  was  repug- 
nant to  Ezekiel,  who  enforces,  on  the  contrary,  the  principle 
that  man  shall  suffer  for  his  own  misdeeds  alone  and  be 
rewarded  for  his  own  merits.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  this 
proverb  has  a  history.  Jeremiah,  too,  deals  with  it,  (31,  28) 
although  he  knows  it  in  a  slightly  different  form.*5  He 
also  finds  it  necessary  to  combat  its  perverted  theology. 
In  the  Midrash  Rabba,  Vayikra,  Tazria,  15,  5  *6  the  proverb 
is  brought  into  connection  with  a  similar  statement  in 
Lamentations  3,  5 — "Our  fathers  sinned  and  are  no  more, 
but  we  must  bear  their  iniquities."  In  Jeremiah,  the  prov- 
erb is  introduced  by  the  phrase  ny  no*'  x1?  which  might 
best  be  rendered  "people  will  no  longer  say."  The  popular 
origin  of  the  proverb  will  be  even  clearer  when  the  negative 
form  of  the  introduction  is  changed  to  the  positive.  It  then 
becomes  a  parallel  to  1  Sam  19,  24  nox»  ]3  hy.  In  Ezekiel, 
it  is  introduced  by  the  longer  formula  n«  o^ano  art  no 
ntn  ^tron  "Why  do  you  make  this  proverb?"  One  other 
proverb  is  introduced  in  this  double  style.  The  story  of 
Saul's  stay  with  the  prophet  Samuel  at  Ramah  gave  rise 
according  to  one  version,  in  1  Sam  19,  24,  to  the  proverb 
D'K'rm  hiKv  Qjn  "Is  Saul  also  among  the  prophets?"  But 
in  1  Sam  10,  12  the  proverb  is  given  in  connection  with  an 
earlier  event  in  the  life  of  Saul,  and  a  more  circumstantial 
attempt  is  made  to  give  an  explanation  to  a  proverb  which 
lay  back  of  both  versions  and  had  already,  at  the  time  of 
the  compiler  of  the  book,  as  we  have  it  before  us,  become 
dark.*7  Whatever  the  later  application,  the  proverb  must 
have  had  its  origin  in  the  feeling  of  incongruity  in  Saul's 
companionship  with  the  prophets.  The  difference  in  the 
mind  of  the  later  writer  acted  to  the  disadvantage  of  Saul, 
because  the  proverb  in  his  day  could  not  help  being  tinged 
with  the  newer  value  and  dignity  of  the  prophetic  school 

10 


and  the  rejection  of  the  king  by  that  school.  So  while  the 
proverb  originally  expressed  surprise  that  a  man  like  Saul 
should  be  found  in  the  company  of  wandering  enthusiasts, 
it  later  expressed  surprise  that  Saul  should  have  been  found 
worthy  of  companionship  with  the  seers.  In  1  Sam  10,  12, 
the  proverb  is  introduced  by  tea1?  nrpn  i:  ty  "Therefore  it 
became  a  proverb." 

In  the  prophetic  literature  the  following  are  to  be  noted. 
Beginning  with  Isaiah,  we  have  in  1,  3  what  is  evidently  an 
old  proverb  iitya  onn  mam  irup  "IIP  jn>>  " The  ox  knoweth 
his  master  and  the  ass  his  owner's  crib."  What  follows  is 
given  by  the  prophet  as  a  contrast  and  is  his  own  elabora- 
tion of  the  theme  of  the  proverb.  Jeremiah  has  a  long 
development  of  the  same  theme*8  but  there  it  is  not  worked 
out  in  the  nature  of  a  proverb.  Perhaps  the  short  phrases 
mivj  vj?3  ,ntyp»a  nJi^aa  ,0133  raor  "As  a  hut  in  a  vineyard," 
"as  a  lodge  in  a  cucumber  field,"  "as  a  fenced  city"  should 
be  added  to  the  list  of  proverbial  phrases.  Isaiah  10,  15 
ifi'so  ty  iitPDn  ^-urp  DN  13  3snn  ty  ITIJH  iKsmn"  Shall  the  axe 
boast  itself  over  him  that  heweth  therewith,  or  shall  the 
saw  magnify  itself  against  him  that  swingeth  it."  Here  too 
the  continuation  is  an  amplification  of  the  intention  of  the 
proverb,  but  in  the  prophet's  style.  22,  13  for  the  sake 
of  the  later  proverbial  use — maa  ino  »s  rinso  ^K  "eat  and 
drink  for  tomorrow  we  die,"  ought  to  be  included.  Isaiah 
28,  14ff  has  been  generally  misunderstood.  The  Septuagint 
*'  translates  ntn  njrn  'ten  iix^  'twx  by  avdpes  reflXtjUjucVot,  Kal 
apxovres  TOV  XooO  TOVTOV.  The  Targum  has  the  same  rendering 
inn  way  ^itate  pjnen  pi3J  Duhm*10has"  Darum  hort  das 
wort  Jahves,  ihr  Manner  des  Spottes,  Beherrscher  dieses 
Volkes  da,  das  in  Jerusalem  ist"  Marti*11  renders  the  verse 
in  the  same  way  keeping  the  idea  of  the  rulers  and  the 
scoffers.  Cheyne*12  has  the  following  note — "Jehovah  pro- 
nounces judgment.  He  addresses — not  the  king  who  is 
passed  over  in  silence  in  most  of  the  Hezekian  discourses  of 

11 


Isaiah — but  the  rulers,  the  politicians.  These  are  designated 
men  of  scorn.  The  title  scoffers  seems  to  be  given  in  Prov- 
erbs to  those  who  opposed  or  despised  the  counsels  of  the 
wise  men  and  broke  through  the  restraints  of  law  and 
religion."  Dillman*13  renders  "Manner  des  Spottes"  and 
"die  Beherrscher  des  Volkes."  Orelli*14  translates  "ihr 
Spottbeflissenen,  ihr  Herrscher  dieses  Volkes."  Hitzig*15  has 
this  rendering  "Darum  so  hort  das  Wort  Jahves  ihr 
Spottredner,  Herrscher  dieses  Volkes."  These  are  therefore 
unanimous  in  regarding  »tee  as  a  form  of  ten  "to  rule." 
But  when  the  phrase  is  so  rendered  it  is  out  of  harmony 
with  the  preceding  section  with  which  it  is  in  every  other 
way  to  be  connected.  There  has  not  been  a  single  word 
concerning  the  rulers  in  the  previous  verse.  Furthermore 
the  connection  has  been  lost  just  through  this  rendering. 
The  prophet  has  been  speaking  of  the  fact  that  they  who 
should  have  given  the  people  advice  were  spiritually  unsound 
and  incapable  of  correct  judgment.  Priest  and  prophet  are 
drunk.  What  they  said  was  all  wrong.  They  mock  the 
true  prophet's  teaching,  jeer  at  his  language  is1?  is  ip^  ip. 
Now  comes  his  answer  to  them.  In  this  answer  "Moshele 
ha'am"  can  only  mean  "Those  who  make  proverbs  for  the 
people."  That  the  root  too  can  be,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
actually  is,  used  in  this  sense,  the  introductory  formula  to 
the  proverb  in  Ezekiel  18,  2  shows.  By  this  rendering  of 
"Moshele  ha'am"  the  difficulties  with  the  "anshe  lazon" 
are  also  removed,  for  that  also  stands  in  some  technical 
sense.  If  we  accept  the  interpretation  of  the  commentators 
above  quoted,  we  have  in  the  text  a  combination  of  "men 
of  scorn"  and  "rulers  of  the  people"  and  while  of  course  any 
two  things  can  be  connected  by  and,  it  is  hard  to  say  just 
what  class  or  classes  this  combination  covers.  But  with 
the  rendering  above  suggested,  we  are  prepared  to  see  that 
the  prophet  is  here  using  |i^>  in  a  secondary  sense  and  is 
depending  upon  the  ingenuity  of  the  hearers  or  readers  to 

12 


fathom  his  meaning.  The  basic  notion  of  jis^  is,  we  must 
presume,  perfectly  familiar  to  his  hearers.  The  associa- 
tions with  other  terms  for  proverbs  are  also  familiar.  He 
therefore  uses  ]wt>  intentionally  not  in  the  sense  of  scorn 
or  scoffing,  but  in  the  sense  of  wrong  proverbial  philosophy. 
The  opposition  between  the  wise  man  and  the  jix^  nwa  is 
indicated  by  Proverbs  29,  8  where  the  meaning  has  again 
been  missed  and  the  translation  "men  of  scorn"  given 

!  instead  of  "unwise  advisers."  Frankenberg*16  has  "Spotter 
versetzen  die  Stadt  in  Aufruhr."  Wildeboer*17  translates 
"Manner  des  Spottes"  refers  to  Isaiah  28,  14  but  makes  no 
further  use  of  the  reference  and  allows  the  phrase  to  stand 
as  it  is.  Toy*18  renders  "Unscrupulous  men  kindle  discord 
in  the  city."  But  there  is  in  none  of  the  interpretations  a 
proper  antithesis  between  the  term  ps^  nw$  and  then'orn 
"wise  men  "  of  the  second  part  of  the  verse.  Further,  the  op- 
position between  the  product  of  the  Wise  men —  nnsn  and  the 
product  of  the  opposite  type  of  man  ju^  is  given  in  Proverbs 
1,  21-22. *19  The  prophet  has  amplified  the  original  state- 
ment in  Isaiah  28,  14ff  as  he  did  in  1,  3  and  10,  15 — "Ye 
have  said  'We  have  made  a  covenant  with  death  (that  is 
that  it  should  not  touch  us)  and  with  sheol  we  have  made  a 
pact'."  This  they  can  say  but  they  would  hardly  end  "We 
have  made  a  lie  our  refuge  and  in  falsehood  have  we  found 
our  hiding  place."  That  is  the  prophet's  mocking  continua- 
tion of  their  "wisdom." 

Isaiah  28,  20  has  this  proverb — jnn»no  P»B*I  i*P  '  = 
Djsnno  m*  nroom  "Perhaps  a  proverbial  expression  for  a  state 
of  painful  uneasiness"  Cheyne*20  and  a  similar  statement 
of  Duhm*81  attest  the  conceded  proverbial  character  of 
the  verse.  Radak,  too,  recognized  the  general  proverbial 
character  and  gave  it  the  same  interpretation.  The  Targum 
goes  its  own  way  and  is  worthless  here  as  a  check  on  the 
text.  Cheyne  looks  upon  the  verse  as  an  interpolation 
because  of  the  Aramaism,  but  the  proverbs  drawn  from  the 

13 


popular  speech  would  be  apt  to  be  tinged  with  this  Aramaism 
and  the  proverb  can  therefore  be  a  genuine  and  integral  part 
of  the  text.  It  does  look  as  if  the  Djrnna  should  be  read 
orinno-  In  the  only  other  passage  where  the  word  n:oo 
occurs  the  verb  that  goes  with  it  is  the  one  formed  from  the 
same  root.  That  change  sets  aside  all  the  difficulties  natural 
with  the  renderings  to  gather  oneself  together  or  with  the 
necessity  or  forced  comparison  with  root  t«  (Duhm).  The 
Septuagint  goes  its  own  way  and  gives  no  hint  as  to  the 
Hebrew  text  that  it  had. 

Isaiah  28,  23-29  is  a  gnomic  section  recognizable  both 
by  the  subject  matter  as  well  as  by  style  and  the  use  of 
rptfin  and  my  words  familiar  to  the  gnomic  writers.  Tushi- 
yah  is  found  only  twice  outside  the  Wisdom  Literature: 
in  this  passage  and  in  Micah  6,  9.*22  Ezah,  however,  is 
more  frequently  found.*23  Isaiah  32,  particularly  verses 
6-8 — "For  the  worthless  person  ever  speaketh  villainy  and 
his  heart  will  work  injustice"  is  most  certainly  gnomic. 
Isaiah  33,  13-16  is  a  parallel  to  Psalm  15. *24  Isaiah  37,  3 — 
"for  the  children  are  come  to  the  birth,  and  there  is  not 
strength  to  bring  forth"  is  proverbial  in  character  and  can 
be  used  to  indicate  any  process  carried  almost  to  completion 
and  then  failing  of  final  accomplishment.  The  theme  of 
Isaiah  40,  12-16  is  a  favorite  one  of  the  Wisdom  School.  It 
is  paralleled  by  Job  38,  5  and  by  Proverbs  4,  Iff.  Isaiah 
45,  9-10  is  a  parallel  to  10,  15 — "Shall  the  clay  say  to  the 
potter  'what  doest  thou'  and  thy  work  'he  has  no  hands'." 
The  next  verse  is  probably  a  continuation  of  the  proverb. 
49,  15 — "Can  a  woman  forget  her  babe;"  66,  8 — "Can  a 
land  be  born  in  one  day,  or  can  a  nation  be  born  in  one 
instant"  are  both  proverbs.  49,  24 — iaa>  n«i  mpte  mjo  np'n 
B^O'  pm  requires  a  slight  change  of  text.  pnx  in  b 
has  no  parallel  for  such  a  usage  and  besides  the  explanation 
of  the  proverb  given  by  the  prophet  himself  (consisting  of 
an  assertion  answering  the  question  in  the  affirmative  and 

14 


using  all  the  words  of  the  question  with  the  one  exception 
of  pns)  demands  that  we  read  pip  instead  of  pn>  -*25 

Jeremiah  8,  22 — "Is  there  no  balm  in  Gilead"  might  be 
included  for  the  sake  of  the  fact  that  later  it  became  a 
proverbial  phrase.  Jeremiah  8,  7  has  already  been  referred 
to  as  an  artificial  working  out  and  development  of  a  pro- 
verbial theme.  Back  of  the  phrases  in  both  Isaiah  and 
Jeremiah  there  is  the  observed  natural  sagacity  of  animals 
in  finding  their  way  to  and  in  recognizing  their  home. 
Jeremiah  9,  22-23  is  decidedly  gnomic.  "Let  not  the  wise 
man  boast*26  of  his  wisdom,  and  let  not  the  strong  man 
boast  of  his  strength,  nor  let  the  rich  man  boast  of  his 
wealth.  Only  in  this  let  him  who  would  boast — in  under- 
standing and  knowing  me."  How  gnomic  this  is  can  be  seen 
from  the  naturalness  with  which  the  elaborated  passage 
fits  into  the  Genizah  Gnomic  Fragments.*27  13,  23 — "Can 
the  Ethiopian  change  his  skin  or  the  leopard  his  spots "  is 
a  proverb  with  an  immediate  application — "so  can  you, 
taught  to  do  evil,  not  do  good."  17,5-8  has  gnomic  material 
having  some  affinities  with  Ps  I.*28  18,  6  has  the  figure  of 
the  clay  in  the  hands  of  the  potter.  18,  14 — a  proverb  of 
natural  phenomena — "Doth  the  snow  of  Lebanon  ever  quit 
the  rock  of  the  field,  or  do  the  far-coming  cold  flowing  waters 
ever  fail."  Perhaps  the  short  phrases  "as  Tabor  among  the 
hills"  and  as  "Carmel  out  of  the  sea"  should  be  included.*29 
23,  28 — nn  JIN  prrt  no  "What  hath  the  straw  to  do  with 
the  corn"  is  clearly  proverbial.  Jeremiah  48,  43 — a  state- 
ment of  general  destruction  nsi  nnei  ins  is  to  be  compared 
with  Isaiah  24,  17-18,  which  seems  to  come  first  in  time,  and 
Lamentations  3,  47  where  only  the  first  two  are  used  and 
two  others  substituted  for  the  third.  Amos  5,  18  has  the 
succession  but  has  the  details  given  more  elaborately.  See 
also  for  a  similar  thought  in  Job  8,  15  rti  irva  ty  ]jw 
nip»  K^I  13  p'tn»  najp  .  Jeremiah  49,  9 — "If  the  gleaners  had 
come  to  thee,  would  they  not  have  left  gleanings,  if  spoilers 

15 


of  the  night,  would  they  not  destroy  (only)  to  their  fill" 
is  taken  from  Obadiah  5. 

In  Ezekiel  11,  3  there  is  evidently  a  proverb.  «^  onoiKn 
"\vzn  omul  i  »on  K>n  ,D'na  mas  anpa  •  The  intention  is 
clear  though  all  the  details  are  not.  The  men  of  Jerusalem 
are  speaking  of  themselves  as  being  the  flesh  in  the  pot — 
a  figure  indicating  the  city.  But  whether  safety  or  absolute 
hopelessness  of  escape  is  indicated  can  be  argued.*30  The 
same  figure  of  the  pot,  this  time  in  the  longer  form  of  the 
allegory,  is  to  be  found  in  Ezekiel  24,  3ff .  What  the  prophet 
expressly  calls  a  "  mashal "  is  given  in  12,  22  ISKI  D'am  lain' 
lim  ^a  "The  days  are  lengthening  (in  the  sense  'time  is 
passing ')  and  every  vision  is  lost  (in  the  sense  of  '  not  being 
realized')."  This  is  a  popular  saying  quoted  by  Ezekiel  for 
the  express  purpose  of  contradiction.  The  first  mashal 
reads  jim  fn  *nNi  D'0»n  la-w — a  two  membered  saying. 
The  answer  to  it  is  intended  naturally  to  preserve  the  same 
structure  of  a  two  membered  saying,  but  as  the  text  stands 
it  fails  to  preserve  such  structure.  To  establish  this  Ewald*31 
reads  injn  basing  the  emendation  on  Isaiah  28,  21.  Cornill*32 
has  xai  "and  it  shall  come  to  pass."  Bertholet*33  suggests 
noji  "it  shall  prevail  and  shall  hasten  on."  Kretzchmar*34 
has  inO'i .  The  objection  to  all  of  these  proposed  emenda- 
tions is  that  they  all  of  them  refer  to  the  actual  fulfillment 
of  the  prophecy.  About  an  actual  fulfillment  there  cannot 
be  any  question.  When  the  prophecies  shall  have  been  ful- 
filled there  will  not  be  any  room  for  doubt.  If  the  people 
were  willing  to  wait  for  that  test,  these  emendations  would 
describe  and  satisfy  the  conditions.  But  that  is  not  the  feel- 
ing of  the  people.  What  they  question  is  this.  The  time  is 
passing  by  and  in  this  lengthening  of  the  days,  the  prophe- 
cies have,  so  to  speak,  lost  effect  and  slipped  up  on  the  way. 
The  prophet  insists  that  such  is  not  the  case.  They  are 
still  in  force.  I  read  therefore  nnjn .  For  the  possibility 
of  such  a  use  of  "amad"  see  Ps.  102,  27  where  the  other 

16 


word  "abad"  is  actually  used  as  its  opposite  nn«i  m»o  nan 
iiopri  and  compare  Jer.  32,  14  o»n  D'a»  najp  ijra^  Isaiah 
66,  22  oijnt  nay  p  =  to  endure  and  see  also  Ps.  33,  11 
majm  D^ip1?  rnn>  nxp  and  Ps.  33,  9  noyn  m*  Kin.  We  read 
therefore  pm  ^o  najn  D»o»n  nip.  Ezekiel  16,  44  nna  naK2— - 
"as  the  mother  is,  so  is  the  daughter"  is  called  amashalin 
the  text. 

Hosea  4,  11  tf  np'  BMvni  pn  nut — "Whoredom  and 
wine  and  new  wine  steal  away  the  heart"  is  undoubtedly  a 
proverb.*35  3^  is  used  here  in  the  wisdom-literature  sense. 
See  Job  8,  10;  9,  4;  12,  3;  12,  24;  Pro  6,  32.*3e  Hosea 
4,  Ib  pK2  DTI^N  i'Ki  non  I»KI  nox  I»K  '3  if  not  an  actual 
quotation  is  rightly  called  by  Harper*87  a  "remnant  of 
proverbial  literature."  Hosea  4,  14d  Ea*?'  prp  K^  cjri  is  per- 
haps the  second  half  of  a  regular  proverb.*38  The  stem 
LET  is  found  only  here  and  in  Proverbs  10,  8.  10.  The 
verse  here  in  Hosea  hangs  together  very  loosely  and  the 
ending  is  clearly  not  a  part  of  the  general  structure  of  the 
sentence.  It  is  therefore  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  quotation. 
Perhaps  Hosea  6,  3  B^ptes  ifi  ovsz  Kan  IKSIO  1123  "inB>3 
PK  mi»  ought  to  be  included  as  ought  also  6,  4b  pj?2  ornom 
I'JH  D'^tra  ^BSI  ipa.  Hosea  6,  6  has  relationships  with  pas- 
sages in  the  Proverbial  Literature  and  in  the  historical 
books — "For  kindness  have  I  desired  and  not  sacrifice  and 
the  knowledge  of  God  more  than  burnt  offerings."  (Of 
the  theological  imputations  more,  when  the  concepts  of 
the  Proverbial  literature  are  dealt  with) .  Hosea  8, 7a — "For 
they  sow  the  wind  and  a  whirlwind  shall  they  reap"  is  a 
proverb.  Similar  is  the  sentiment  expressed  in  Hosea  10,  13 
— "Ye  have  plowed  evil,  iniquity  shall  ye  reap,  ye  shall  eat 
the  fruit  of  lying."  Hosea  10,  12  has  something  of  the 
personal  tone  of  the  wise  man  teaching.  Hosea  14,  10  is 
another  gnomic  passage — "Who  is  wise  and  will  understand 
these  things,  understanding  them  that  he  may  know  them, 
for  the  ways  of  the  Lord  are  right,  the  righteous  shall  walk 

17 


in  them  and  the  transgressors  shall  stumble  through  them." 
Finally  we  have  Hosea  13,  2 — "Of  them  it  is  said  'They 
sacrifice  men  and  kiss  calves'." 

Amos  has  a  number  of  passages  which  ought  to  be  con- 
sidered besides  the  three-four-numbered  passages  which  will 
come  up  for  consideration  later.  Amos  3,  3 — "Will  two  go 
together  except  they  have  appointed  a  time."  The  Septua- 
gint*39  suggests  the  reading  ijnu  instead  of  the  present 
Hebrew  text  of  njna.  This  is  followed  by  Marti*40  who 
gives  the  reason  that  two  orientals  would  not  walk  together 
unless  they  knew  each  other.  But  this  reason  would  oper- 
ate even  more  in  case  we  read  with  the  present  Hebrew 
text  njna.  Besides  that,  njw  is  the  more  difficult  reading 
and  ought  not  to  be  set  aside  too  lightly.  Amos  3,  4 — 
"Will  the  lion  roar  in  the  forest  and  yet  have  no  prey,  will 
the  young  lion  give  forth  his  voice  from  his  cave  except 
that  he  have  caught."  3,  5 — "Can  a  bird  fall  in  a  snare 
upon  the  earth  when  there  is  no  gin  set  for  him,  is  ever  a 
snare  taken  up  from  the  ground  when  it  hath  caught 
nothing."  3,  6 — "Will  a  trumpet  be  blown  in  a  city  and 
the  people  not  be  afraid,  will  there  be  evil  in  a  city  and  the 
Lord  have  not  done  it."  The  structure  of  this  sentence  is 
not  as  parallelistic  as  was  the  structure  of  the  other  two. 
We  propose  the  change  of  vowels  and  read  njn  from  the  root 
pjn — "to  shake,  to  quake"  then  "an  earthquake."  The 
guttural  would  be  responsbile  for  the  change  of  vowel.  The 
formation  would  be  the  same  as  no  from  mo  •  Amos  5,  18 — 
"As  a  man  fleeing  from  a  lion  and  a  bear  meets  him  and  he 
comes  into  the  house  and  leans  his  hand  against  the  wall  and 
a  snake  bites  him  "  is  the  complete  form  of  what  in  Jeremiah 
was  given  first  in  short  and  then  in  longer  form — see  Jere- 
miah 48,  43.  Amos  6,  12 — "Can  horses  run  on  the  flinty 
rock  or  can  a  man  plow  the  sea  with  oxen?"  This  of  course 
accepts  the  emendation*41  of  breaking  babekarim  into  two 
words  babakar  yam.  Amos  6,  13 — "Who  say  'is  it  not  by 

18 


our  own  strength  that  we  have  taken  ourselves  horns',"  i-e- 
our  supremacy  is  the  fruit  of  the  labor  of  our  own  hands,  is 
hardly  a  proverb.  It  is  merely  a  popular  claim. 

Micah  2,  4  has  a  passage  that  is  in  the  text  called  a 
mashal,  but  from  the  contents  it  borders  very  closely  on 
the  dirge  and  from  the  structure  of  it,  it  appears  to  be  a 
Kinah.*42  "We  are  wasted,  the  portion  of  my  people  he 
hath  changed,  how  hath  he  removed  it  from  me,  instead 
of  restoring  he  hath  divided  my  fields." 

Habakuk  1,  14  n  toia  K^  troia  has  affinities  with  Prov- 
erbs 6,  6  toioi  it:iB>  I'sp  rtf>  UK  itrw  Habakuk  2,  6 — Here 
the  use  of  mashal  falls  in  line  with  the  use  of  it  made  in 
Isaiah  14,  not  as  a  proverb  but  as  a  taunting  speech. 

Jonah  4,  10  in*  nM  pi  run  rfy^  pt?  is  undoubtedly  a 
quotation  from  some  proverb  which  had  to  deal  with  the 
shortness  and  uncertainty  of  human  life. 

Haggai  1,  6  is  only  distantly  gnomic  but  the  last  member 
— aipj  ins  'JK  irntyn  i2n»om  sounds  like  a  proverb. 

The  Book  of  Psalms  stands  on  the  borderland  of  many 
varieties  of  composition.  It  passes  from  the  lyrical  to  the 
historical  and  to  the  didactic.  It  is  to  be  expected  therefore 
that  it  should  be  rich  in  proverbial  material.  7,15 — 
"Behold  he  travaileth  with  iniquity,  hath  conceived  wrong 
and  hath  begotten  falsehood."  The  subject  matter  of 
this  proverb  is  handled  frequently  and  with  the  same  applica- 
tion. See  Hosea  8,  7;  10,  13  as  well  as  Job  15,  35  ^»p  mn 
noiD  i'2n  D3M1  IIK  T5M  The  next  two  verses  (Psalms  7, 16-17) 
are  undoubtedly  proverbs.  Maimonides  in  his  commentary 
to  the  Pirke  Aboth — "The  Chapters  of  the  Fathers" — 
explains  (Chapter  2  paragraph  6)  verse  16  by  the  Rabbinic 
saying — "Bemidah  sheadam  moded  modedin  lo"  "As  a 
man  measures  they  measure  unto  him."  This  saying  is 
quoted  also  in  the  Seder  Eliyahu  Zuta  (Friedmann  edition, 
page  170).  For  the  same  notion  see  Ben  Sira  27,  25-27. 
A  similar  notion  is  found  in  Ps.  9,  16  ivy  nn»3  DMJ 

19 


s^  UDB  it  nana  and  in  35,  8 — n^n  iota  IP 
See  also  Proverbs  26,  27  men  i»to»  p*  Wai  ^im  u  nnar  ni2 
See  also  EC  10,  8  two  USBM  YW  pei  ^>IB'  la  pou  iein.  The 
rabbinic  saying  is  paralleled  by  the  New  Testament  Mat. 
7,  2.  For  quotations  other  than  these  see  Perle  (Ozar 
Leshon  Hachamim,  Warsaw  1900  p,  86,  no.  1245).  Psalms 
18,  25-28  has  a  gnomic  passage  paralleled  by  2  Sam  22, 
25-27  with  the  difference  of  a  few  minor  text  changes. 
30,  10  -|n»K  TJ»n  *\ty  T»'n  and  6, 6 — ^iKtra  TIST  nioa  px  '3 
•£  mi'  »»  and  88,  11-13 — "Wilt  thou  display  thy  wonders 
to  the  dead,  shall  the  departed  arise  and  thank  thee.  Shall 
thy  wonders  be  acknowledged  in  the  darkness,  and  thy 
righteousness  in  the  land  of  forgetfulness.  Shall  they  kind- 
ness be  related  in  the  grave,  thy  faithfulness  in  the  place  of 
corruption"  belong  to  a  proverbial  notion  which  must  have 
gone  the  rounds  and  must  have  been  worked  up  into  longer 
or  shorter  forms,  but  all  with  the  same  thought  "Can  the 
dead  speak."  Ps.  32,  8-10  is  clearly  gnomic  in  character, 
as  is  to  be  seen  from  the  introductory  verbs  -pin  i^iawit. 
Briggs**3  has  this  to  say  of  the  passage,  it  is — "in  accord- 
ance with  the  legal  attitude  of  mind  subsequent  to  Nehe- 
miah."  But  there  is  here  no  legal  implication  at  all.  Askile- 
clah  is  distinctively  a  gnomic  word.  It  is  a  denominative 
from  Sechel.  For  the  gnomic  use  of  sechel  compare  Prov- 
erbs 21,  11 — njn  np>  D3n^  ^BTDI  and  Ps.  94,  8  ojn  onya  uo 
i^"2twi  »no  D'^»D2i.  Ehrlich*44  would  change  eni  into  beni. 
This  would  of  course  carry  out  even  still  further  the  gnomic 
character  of  the  passage.  But  despite  the  inviting  emenda- 
tion, since  the  acceptance  of  the  Septuagint*45  reading 
makes  sense  possible,  eni  will  have  to  be  retained.  Moreover 
the  LXX  reading  is  supported  by  Proverbs  16, 30  io'p  n»p- 
The  last  three  words  T^K  anp  h  look  like  a  gloss.  Ps.  33 
is  gnomic.  So  also  is  Ps.  34.  In  this  Psalm  verses  12-15  are 
highly  interesting.  Here  the  Psalmist  intentionally  passes 
over  to  the  style  of  the  "Moshel  meshalim"  or  the  "Meth- 

20 


aken  meshalim"  and  calls  out  as  the  proverbialist,  address- 
ing his  hearers,  real  or  imaginary,  as  sons — "banim" — and 
gives  them  instruction  exactly  as  the  book  of  Proverbs 
pictures.  Baethgen*46  "Die  Gemeinde  redet  ihre  Kinder 
d.i.  angehorigen  an.  Ebenso  spricht  die  personificierte 
Weisheit  Pro  8,  32"  misses  the  mark.  The  relationship 
between  the  literature  of  Proverbs  and  of  Psalms  is  even 
closer  than  Duhm's*47  "errinert  an  die  Proverbien  wie  so 
manches  andere  in  Ps.  25;  34."  The  selection  gives  a  sug- 
gestion as  to  the  methods  of  the  teachers  not  indicated  as 
clearly  in  the  confessedly  Proverbial  books.  It  certainly 
looks  as  if  the  answer  to  the  13th  verse  would  be  looked  for 
eagerly  by  the  listeners,  and  it  is  equally  as  certain  that  they 
did  not  expect  the  answer  that  really  was  given.  Talmud 
Babli,  Abodah  Zarah  19b  has  this  purposely  enigmatic 
style  heightened  by  making  the  speaker  disguise  the  fact 
that  it  is  a  quotation  that  he  is  about  to  give.  Therefore 
it  has  the  question  "Who  desires  life"  in  Aramaic.  The 
answer  is  the  quotation  from  the  Psalms.*48  The  same 
indication  of  the  relationship  of  personal  interest  between 
teacher  and  pupil  is  given  in  Ps  32,  8.  Ps  37  is  also  gnomic 
but  note  the  proverb  in  verse  16 — Diytsn  pono  pns^  tsyo  mta 
D'3T  .  The  text  here,  however  requires  some  emendation.*49 
The  personal  relationship  is  to  be  seen  again  in  verse 
35  when  the  didactic  element  comes  strongly  forward.  The 
same  didactic  spirit  is  to  be  seen  in  Psalm  50,  16-21.  Here 
God  himself  is  the  teacher.  A  terse  saying  part  way  across 
the  borders  of  proverbland  is  to  be  found  in  Ps  69,  5 — 
"Those  who  hate  me  for  no  reason  are  more  numerous  than 
the 'hair  of  my  head'."  Psalm  78  is  another  didactic  Psalm. 
In  the  preface  the  writer  promises  to  speak  "meshalim" 
and  "hidoth."  tnp  >JQ  nn»n  npoK  ,»B  tons  nnmm.  That 
hidoth  was  used  in  a  rather  diluted  sense  is  clear  from  this 
passage.  It  gradually  fell  into  a  class  with  mashal  and 
melizah  and  all  of  the  phrases  melted  down  finally  into 

21 


meaning  a  di  'actic  poem.  This  is  the  case  also  in  Psalm 
49,  5 — >nvn  1131=3  nnnsx  'JTN  to»^>  nan.  Ps.  90,  10 — "The 
days  of  our  years  are  seventy  years  and  if  with  strength  are 
eighty  years"  has  passed  in.o  a  proverb.  Ps.  89,  49 — 
"What  man  will  live  and  not  see  death  who  will  deliver  his 
soul  from  death  (from  Sheol)  Selah"  if  not  in  itself  a  prov- 
erb could  easily  be  made  into  one.  Ps.  94,  8-10  onyn  13's 
nSn  ]iy  w  LK  JJBBM  K^n  ITK  j?ai3n  ;i^i=B>n  in»  Q'^DSI  cp 
;njn  DTK  noton  HOT  K^n  on;  lorn  ;co»  are  undoubtedly  prov- 
erbs. The  last  couplet  is  not  complete.  There  is  no  author- 
ity for  the  emendation  but  it  does  look  as  if  it  ought  to  be 
completed  by  a  statement  like  pa*  K^n.  It  is  to  be  noticed 
that  the  introduction  to  this  little  proverbial  section  is  to  be 
found  in  the  preceding  verse  (8)  and  there  the  form  of 
"Taskilu"  is  used — the  form  which  was  taken  by  Briggs*50 
as  the  unfailing  sign  of  the  legalistic  period  of  Nehemiah. 
Ps  111  and  112  are  gnomic  Psalms  and  belong  together. 
They  have  parallelisms  in  the  construction,  have  phrases 
in  common  (ny1?  may  and  verses  111,  3  and  112,  3).  Ps. 
105,  106  and  107  belong  to  the  didactic  class.  Notice 
particularly  in  Ps.  107,  43  the  appeal  to  the  wise  men — 
"Mi  hacham  veyishmor  eleh."  Perhaps  118,  22— "The 
stone  which  the  builders  rejected  hath  become  the  corner 
stone"  ought  to  be  included  for  the  sake  of  its  gnomic 
possibilities.  The  same  might  be  said  of  verses  8  and  9 — 
"  It  is  better  to  trust  in  the  Lord  than  to  trust  in  man.  It 
is  better  to  trust  in  the  Lord  than  to  trust  in  princes." 
Ps  132,  4 — "  If  I  shall  allow  my  eyes  to  sleep  and  mine  eye- 
lids slumber"  is  probably  a  quotation  from  Proverbs  6,  4 — 
"Do  not  give  sleep  to  thine  eyes  and  slumber  to  thine  eye- 
lids." (See  Baethgen*51  "Fur  den  David  in  den  Mund 
gelegten  Schwur  verwendet  der  Dichter  hier  ein  Citat  aus 
Pro  6,  4.")  Ps  119  is  alphabetic  and  gnomic  as  is  Ps.  145. 
Song  of  Songs  8,  6ff  has  a  proverbial  passage — "For 
strong  as  death  is  love,  worse  than  death  is  its  pain.  The 

22 


mighty  waters  cannot  quench  it  and  rivers  cannot  flood  it 
away.  If  a  man  should  give  all  the  wealth  of  his  house  for 
love  they  would  scorn  him."*52 

In  the  historical  books  of  the  Bible  the  following  are  to 
be  noted.  Joshua  6,  26 — "With  his  first  born  shall  he  lay 
the  foundations  and  with  his  youngest  shall  he  set  up  the 
gates."  The  verse  is  doubtless  an  old  remnant.*53  It 
must  have  come  from  an  old  collection  akin  perhaps  to  the 
"sefer  hayashar"  as  later  quoted  in  Joshua  itself.  The  say- 
ing is  assumed  by  the  narrator  of  Kings  1 :16,  34.  It  had 
become  a  proverbial  statement  of  the  costliness  of  the 
rebuilding  of  Jericho.  But  back  of  this  there  is  the  attempt 
to  explain  what  quite  possibly  happened  in  the  building  of 
the  city — the  immuring  of  a  human  victim.*54 

Judges  9,  2b — "and  ye  shall  remember  that  'I  am  your 
flesh  and  blood'  "  hints  at  the  existence  of  a  proverb  which 
parallels  the  English  formula  "Blood  is  thicker  than  water." 
Another  short  proverb  is  given  in  Judges  8,  21 — "As  the 
man  is,  so  is  his  strength."  Here  the  reason  for  a  definite 
line  of  action  is  given  by  the  apt  quotation  of  a  proverb. 
The  form  of  this  one  is  the  same  as  the  very  short  one  of 
Ezekiel  1,  16,  44  where  the  presence  of  a  proverb  is  indicated 
however  by  the  word  "mashal."  The  closing  statement  of 
Judges  (also  Judges  17,  6)  could  easily  pass  over  into  a 
proverb.  See  Talmud  Babli  Sotah  47b  where  the  phrase 
has  clearly  become  a  proverbial  idiom .  ' '  When  '  every-man- 
did-what-was-right-in-his-own-eyes'  multiplied,  the  humble 
(in  the  sense  of  the  undeserving)  were  exalted  and  the  exalted 
(deserving)  were  humbled."  The  riddle  in  Judges  14  is  usu- 
ally counted  among  the  proverbs  or  in  the  mashal  literature, 
but  the  answer  of  Samson  "If  you  had  not  plowed  with  my 
heifer  you  would  not  have  discovered  my  riddle"  ought 
also  be  included.  It  was  so  recognized  by  the  ancient 
Jewish  commentators.  Kimfri  (in  loco)  says  "al  derech 
mashal."  Rashi  (in  loco)  has  "mashal  hu."  For  Judges 

23 


12,  3  '=ra  IVB*  no'trm"!  took  my  life  in  my  hands,"  compare 
Job  13,  14 — "Why  should  I  carry  my  flesh  in  my  teeth  and 
why  should  I  place  my  life  in  my  hands"  and  1  Sam.  19,  5 — 
"And  he  put  his  life  into  his  hand  and  he  smote  the  Philis- 
tine." 

1  Sam  24,  13  David  quotes  an  old  proverb  "mashal 
kadmoni" — from  the  wicked  proceedeth  wickedness."  1 
Sam  15,  22 — "Behold  to  obey  is  better  than  to  sacrifice 
and  to  attend  is  more  acceptable  than  the  fat  of  rams"  has 
many  relatives  in  the  literature  acknowledged  proverbial. 
Proverbs  21,  3 — "To  exercise  righteousness  and  justice  is 
more  acceptable  to  the  Lord  than  sacrifice"  and  Sira  34,  20 
— "The  Lord  is  not  pleased  with  the  offerings  of  the  wicked  , 
neither  is  he  pacified  for  sin  by  the  multitudes  of  sacrifices" 
and  Hosea  6,  6 — "For  kindness  have  I  desired  and  not  sacri- 
fices, and  the  knowledge  of  God  more  than  burnt  offerings" 
have  the  same  notion.  1  Sam  15,  23  "The  sin  of  witchcraft 
is  rebellion,  and  idolatry  and  image  worship  is  stubbornness." 
1  Sam  26,  20  has  two  proverbial  expressions.  The  first  is 
found  also  in  1  Sam  24,  15  ("After  whom  is  the  King  of 
Israel  gone  forth,  whom  art  thou  pursuing,  after  a  dead  dog, 
after  a  flea").  The  second  "as  one  hunts  the  partridge  on 
the  hills"  is  found  only  here.*55  For  the  use  of  3^2  in  the 
derogatory  sense  see  2  Sam  9,  8 — "What  is  thy  servant  that 
thou  hast  turned  toward  a  dead  dog  as  myself"  and  16,  9 — 
"Why  should  this  dead  dog  curse  my  lord  the  King."  Of 
lSam25,25»nn  ]s  ictrs  "He  is  as  his  name,  "later  usage  has 
made  a  proverb.  The  LXX  helps  us  to  complete  the  prov- 
erb of  1  Sam  16,  7.  As  the  Massoretic  text  stands  it  is  not 
complete.  The  LXX*56  seems  to  have  had  before  it  a 
Hebrew  text  which  read  mn>  mo'  mxn  nxv  I»K  K1?  >r.  1  Sam 
14,  6 — "For  there  is  not  hindrance  unto  the  Lord  to  save 
by  many  or  by  few"  has  its  parallel,  though  it  is  possible 
that  this  passage  inspired  the  one  in  1  Mac.  3,  18 — "It  is  no 
hard  matter  for  many  to  be  shut  up  in  the  hands  of  the  few, 

24 


and  with  the  God  of  Heaven  it  is  all  one,  to  deliver  with  a 
great  multitude,  or  a  small  company"  and  in  2  Mac  15,  27 
— "calleth  upon  the  Lord  that  worketh  wonders,  knowing 
that  victory  cometh  not  by  arms  but  even  as  it  seemeth 
good  to  Him.  He  giveth  it  to  such  as  are  worthy."  The 
noun  iixyo  occurs  only  here,  as  far  as  the  canonical  books 
are  concerned.  In  a  passage  in  Ben  Sira  evidently 
influenced  by 'this  one  it  occurs  again,  see  Ben  Sira  39,  18 
injnBT)1?  11x370  PHI.  1  Sam  3,  20 — "From  Dan  to  Beer 
Sheba"  is  surely  a  proverbial  phrase. 

2  Sam  5,  8 — Here  there  is  a  lame  attempt  to  connect 
a  priestly  provision,  tradition  of  which  is  still  current  in 
the  later  Halachah  (see  Mishnah  Hagigah  1,  1  the  form  of 
the  Mishnah  showing  that  it  belongs  to  a  very  early  period 
in  the  development  of  the  Halachah' — "All  are  obliged  to 
appear — i.e.  at  the  festival  time  in  Jerusalem — except  the 
deaf,  the  blind,  the  mentally  deficient,  the  minor,  the  lame, 
the  s.  zk,  the  aged,  etc.)  as  to  who  shall  and  who  shall  not 
come  into  the  temple,  with  the  taking  of  the  hill  from  the 
Jebusites.*57  The  explanation  is  omitted  in  1  Ch  11,6. 
2  Sam  14,  14,  I  render  as  follows:  (a)  is  a  proverb  "We  shall 
all  of  us  die"  (referring  not  to  Absalom  nor  to  Ammon  but 
to  David  himself).  "We  are  as  water  thrown  upon  the 
ground."  The  next  phrase  vtu  DTI^M  KBM  K^I  is  an  amplifica- 
tion of  the  first  statement — "Not  one  will  escape  death." 
The  conclusion  therefore  is  a  natural  one.  "Therefore  let 
the  king  devise  plans  so  that  the  exile  be  not  driven  away 
farther.  2  Sam  19,4  may  be  a  proverb  "As  people  ashamed, 
steal  away  when  they  fly  from  the  battle."  Of  the  ancient 
saying  in  2  Sam  20,  18  quoted  by  a  woman  described  as  a 
hachamah  the  proverbial  value  is  slight  though  it  is  inter- 
esting as  pointing  to  Abel  as  a  seat  of  early  Jewish  tradition. 

1  Kings  20,  1 1  has  the  terse  reply — "Let  not  the  man  who 
puts  on  [his  armor]  boast  as  he  who  has  taken  it  off."*58 
1  Kings  12,  10  is  evidently  a  proverb.  The  double  assonance 

25 


'3N  'j-nao  my  'jep  points  to  the  same  fact.  When  the  king 
himself  speaks,  his  language  is  not  in  the  laconic  style  of 
the  proverb.  2  Kings  21,  13  the  figure  of  drying  and  then 
turning  over  again  to  dry  more  thoroughly  might  also  be 
included.  1  K.  14,  15  D'taa  n:pn  TU»  IB>K:  is  a  little  more 
than  a  simile. 

In  later  times  the  intimate  acquaintance  with  the 
Hebrew  text  of  the  Bible  made  proverbs  of  passages  not 
really  originally  intended  as  such.  For  example,  Deut  14,  14 
U'D^  mjr  bs  nKi  could  from  its  position  in  the  dietary  laws, 
never  have  been  intended  as  a  proverb,  yet  it  is  used  as  the 
equivalent  of  the  English  "Birds  of  a  feather  flock  together" 
or  in  the  words  of  Ben  Sira  27,  9 — ppi  U»D^  rpy  ^3  "  Birds 
of  a  feather  nest  together"  (quoted  in  Talmud  Babli  Baba 
Kama  92b)  and  13113  DHK*  luon  bs  "every  beast  loveth  his 
like."  Emanuel  of  Rome  (See  Mahbereth  Emanuel,  p  46 
Lemberg  Edition)  has  a  poem  in  which  the  answer  to  a 
series  of  questions  is  given  by  a  Biblical  quotation  rhyming 
with  the  question."  IKV  '3"?B  oy  Tan  'J^fi  KXOJ  JM*T»  "Why 
is  so  and  so  found  continually  in  the  company  of  such  and 
such  his  neighbor?"  and  the  answer  is  "  n»o^>  rniy  bs." 
So  the  saying  in  Genesis — "It  is  not  good  for  man  to  be 
alone  became  a  proverb.  Likewise  "the  skin  of  the  teeth" 
of  Job  19,  20.  So  Zechariah  4,  6  "not  by  strength  nor 
by  might  but  by  my  spirit"  is  already  half  way  towards 
the  boundary  of  proverbland.  The  same  can  be  said  of 
Zechariah  10,  3 — "Upon  the  shepherds  was  mine  anger 
kindled  and  upon  the  rams  shall  I  visit  (my  wrath)." 
Habakuk  2,  4 — "And  the  righteous  man  shall  live  by  his 
faith  "  is  near  the  border.  Ps.  69,  5,  already  quoted,  belongs 
to  this  class. 

The  fable  has  two  representatives  in  Biblical  Literature, 
of  which  the  longer  one  in  Judges  9,  8-15  is  carried  out  to  a 
length  which  shows  that  this  form  of  composition  must 
have  been  cultivated  and  must  have  been  thoroughly 

26 


intelligible  to  the  ordinary  audience.  The  other  one  in  2 
Kings  14  is  shorter  but  none  the  less  pointed  in  its  applica- 
tion. It  is  to  be  noted  that  both  of  these  are  tree  fables. 
Of  animal  fables  there  is  none  in  the  Bible.  In  the  Rabbinic 
literature,  however,  they  are  plentiful.  Rabbi  Meir  was  an 
adept  at  this  kind  of  composition  and  tradition  has  it  that 
he  wrote  300  fox  fables.  In  the  time  of  Rabbi  Johanan  the 
references  to  only  three  of  that  number  were  extant.*59 
Jochanan  Ben  Zaccai  a  pupil  of  Hillel  the  great  Halachic 
authority  also  composed  fables.*60 

Only  one  example  of  the  riddle  is  to  be  found  in  the  Bible. 
But  from  the  example  there  given  and  from  the  circum- 
stances there  related,  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  riddles  were 
a  common  method  of  furnishing  entertainment  to  guests 
assembled  at  feasts  or  weddings.  (Judges  14,  14).  The 
hidoth  of  the  Queen  of  Sheba  are  not  given  in  1  Kings  19, 
1=2  Ch  9,  1,  but  the  later  writings  have  not  allowed  the 
chance  to  go  by  without  claiming  to  give  some  of  them.*61 

Of  parables,  and  the  parable  is  also  included  in  the  term 
mashal,  there  are  a  number  of  examples.  One  is  pronounced 
by  Nathan  the  prophet  against  David  (2  Sam  12,  1-6)  and 
through  its  lesson  David  is  led  to  pass  judgment  upon  his 
own  actions.  The  second  is  given  by  a  wise  woman  of 
Tekoa  (2  Sam  14,  5-7).  A  third  is  found  in  1  Kings  20, 
39-40,  the  figure  this  time  being  drawn  from  military  usages. 
A  fourth,  Isaiah  5,  1-6,  is  the  parable  of  the  vineyard  and 
the  disappointed  hopes  of  the  owner  and  lastly  we  have 
Isaiah  27,  24-28  also  drawn  from  agricultural  life.  It  is 
worthy  of  remark  that  of  the  five  parables  extant,  three  are 
drawn  from  agricultural  conditions,  the  fourth  from  land 
inheritance  customs,  which  touch  therefore  on  the  same 
general  agricultural  state  as  the  first  three,  and  the  fifth  is 
from  war.  The  parable  develops  in  later  literature  and 
becomes  very  frequent,  when  the  pages  of  the  Midrash  have 
very  often  the  opening  sentence — " nnn  lann  no^>  too." 

27 


But  whereas  the  Biblical  parable  is,  as  already  indicated, 
seen  to  be  founded  on  the  simplest  circumstances  of  agri- 
cultural life  and  upon  the  early  conditions  which  include  the 
"Goel"  conceptions,  those  of  the  Midrash  are  to  a  large 
extent  products  of  and  expressive  of  conditions  as  they  were 
in  the  days  of  Roman  suzerainty  and  supremacy.  The  par- 
ables there  speak,  therefore,  of  kings,  of  palaces,  of  landed 
proprietors,  of  retinues  and  imperial  pomp.  They  know  of 
the  intrigue  of  palace,  of  favorite  and  of  extensive  building 
operations.  (See  for  this  Ziegler,  Die  Koenigsgleichnisse  des 
Midrasch  beleuchtet  durch  die  Kaiserzeit,  Breslau  1903.) 

Besides  meaning  proverb,  parable  and  fable,  "mashal" 
is  used  in  the  Bible  to  indicate  a  sharp,  jeering,  taunting 
speech.  The  person  thus  addressed  becomes  in  himself  a 
"mashal" — an  object  lesson,  a  warning  to  others  and  a 
fitting  subject  for  the  moralists.  "He  hath  made  me  a 
proverb  among  the  people" — Job  17,  6.  In  this  sense  the 
speech  directed  by  the  prophet  against  Babylon  is  called  a 
"Mashal"— Isaiah  14,  4ff.  So  Micah  2,  4  and  Ezekiel  14,  8 
where  ^vo  is  used  in  combination  with  nix,  Jeremiah  24,  9 — 
here  the  combination  is  even  stronger  "a  disgrace,  a  byword, 
and  a  curse,"  and  Deut  28,  37  "Thou  shalt  become  a  desola- 
tion, a  byword  and  a  proverb  among  all  the  nations;" 
1  Kings  9,  7 — "And  Israel  shall  become  a  byword  and  a 
proverb  in  all  the  nations;"  2  Ch  7,  20;  Ps.  40,  5 ;  78,  2. 

But  the  term  "  mashal "  is  applied  also  to  poetic  composi- 
tions without  reference  to  proverb,  maxim  or  gnomic  saying 
at  all.  Thus  for  example,  the  speeches  of  Balaam  are 
expressly  called,  each  one,  a  mashal — Numbers  23,  7.  18: 
24,  315.  20.  21.  23.  In  the  same  way  the  old  selections  con- 
cerning the  destruction  of  Moab — Numbers  21,  27-30  are 
called  mashal.  Didactic  Psalms  are  called  mashal,  Ps  78,  2. 

The  metaphor  continued  and  developed  passes  over  into 
the  allegory,  and  this,  too,  is  indicated  by  the  term  Mashal. 
Ezekiel  17,  3-10,  24,  3ff ;  Ps  80,  9-10  and  many  others. 

28 


So  far  the  attempt  has  been  made  to  gather  the  frag- 
ments of  gnomic  character,  to  show  the  extent  of  the 
proverbial  literature  of  the  Bible  and  for  the  sake  of  com- 
pleteness to  show  the  other  forms  of  the  mashal  and  the 
mn  even  though  only  distantly  related  to  our  main  pre- 
occupation— the  proverb.  In  the  Apocrypha,  we  have 
naturally  the  book  of  Ben  Sira,  which  is  by  far  the  largest 
book  in  the  literature  of  proverbs.  The  Wisdom  of  Solomon 
cannot  be  included  as  a  whole,  for  although  it  is  a  member  of 
the  wisdom  class,  its  style  is  not  such  as  would  entitle  it 
to  be  called  gnomic.  Chapters  10-19  are  really  an  attempt 
to  give  an  outline  of  the  history  of  the  Jewish  people, 
particularly  of  the  stay  in  Egypt  and  the  deliverance  from 
that  land  and  to  explain  why  the  Egyptians  were  sent 
certain  plagues.  This  section  is  in  reality  a  sort  of  Greek 
Midrash.  But  even  the  first  part  cannot  enter  into  the  dis- 
cussion and  detailed  analysis.  For  while  it  has  reminiscences 
of  Hebrew  constructions  the  style,  despite  frequent  parallel- 
isms, is  a  Greek  one. 

Besides  these  two  books,  there  are  a  few  fragments  that 
ought  to  be  collected  and  mentioned.  First  is  the  fragment 
in  Tobit  12,  6-11 — an  example  of  didactic  gnomic  literature 
with  a  particular  person  addressed,  and  not  an  assumed 
audience.  The  dependence  of  this  passage  on  the  canonical 
books  is  evident.  Tobit  12,  6  "  It  is  good  to  praise  God  and 
exalt  his  name  and  honorably  to  show  forth  the  works  of 
God"  depends  on  Ps.  92,  2-3.  Verse  7 — "  It  is  good  to  keep 
close  the  secret  of  the  king,  but  it  is  honorable  to  reveal  the 
works  of  God"  has  phraseology  suggesting  the  vocabulary 
of  Amos  3,  7  and  Ps  25,  14.  Verse  7b  "Do  that  which  is 
good  and  no  evil  shall  touch  you"  is  suggested  by  Psalm 
91,  7.  Verse  8b  "A  little  with  righteousness  is  better  than 
much  with  unrighteousness  follows  Ps  37,  16  and  incidentally 
corroborates  the  emendation  proposed  of  changing  "  hamon  " 
into  "  hon  "  and  suggests  further  Proverbs  15,  16.  Verse  9 — 

29 


"For  alms  doth  deliver  from  death''  is  a  copy  of  Proverbs 
11,  14  besides  giving  the  technical  interpretation  to  "zeda- 
kah"  of  charity,  and  Ps.  79,  9.  Tobit  has  another  gnomic 
passage  4,  3-21,  in  its  conception  modelled  upon  frequent 
canonical  usage — the  patriarchs  blessing  their  children, 
David  blessing  and  charging  Solomon.  This  passage  in 
Tobit  however  insists  far  more  upon  the  general  religious 
and  ethical  principles  than  does  the  passage  in  1  Kings  2. 
It  becomes  in  this  a  forerunner  of  the  extensive  ante- 
mortem  instructions  as  well  as  of  the  "ethical  will"  litera- 
ture of  the  middle  ages.*68 

Baruch*63  has  a  few  verses  on  the  praise  of  wisdom  that 
ought  to  be  classed  with  the  gnomic — 3,  29-35.  Wisdom  he 
there  identifies  with  the  Torah.  The  same  dependence  on 
the  canonical  books  is  here  to  be  seen,  though  in  general 
the  style  is  a  Greek  style,  particularly  in  the  latter  half  of 
the  book  from  Chapter  3,  9  on.  Verses  29-30  are  almost 
repetitions  of  Deut  3,  11-13  but  what  was  said  in  Deut- 
eronomy concerning  the  commandment  of  the  Lord  is  here 
said  about  wisdom  personified.  "Who  hath  gone  up  into 
heaven  and  taken  her,  and  brought  her  down  from  the 
clouds?  Who  hath  gone  over  the  sea,  and  found  her  and 
will  bring  her  for  pure  gold?" 

1  Esdras*64  3  has  the  account  of  the  battle  of  the  wits. 
In  response  to  the  query  "What  is  the  strongest  thing  in 
the  world?"  one  answers  "Wine,"  another  "the  King" 
and  the  third  answers  "Woman,"  and  above  all  "Truth." 
The  reasons  for  each  answer  are  given  in  long  gnomic  pas- 
sages— Chapters  3,  4 — and  the  whole  selection  ends  with 
a  praise  of  truth. 

1  Mac*65  2,  51-63  has  another  passage  like  this  one  in 
Tobith,  the  charge  of  the  father  to  his  sons.  The  contents 
of  this,  moreover,  can  be  compared  with  a  similar  praise  of 
the  fathers,  the  section  of  the  D'JIJ?  nnx  mv  in  Ben  Sira, 
Chapters  44-50.  2  Mac  concludes  with  a  comparison  between 

30 


good  wine  and  good  speech  somewhat  gnomic  in  character ; 
perhaps  2  Mac  2,  32  "It  is  a  foolish  thing  to  make  a  long 
prologue  and  to  be  short  in  the  story"  ought  to  be  included 
as  a  proverb. 

As  has  already  been  indicated,  the  proverb  and  the  gno- 
mic saying  do  not  stop  with  the  Bible  and  the  Apocrypha, 
but  continue  straight  on  down  through  Jewish  Literature. 
We  have  first  to  notice  the  Pirke  Aboth — "The  Chapters 
of  the  Fathers"  of  the  Jewish  Church*86.  It  is  a  part  of 
the  Mishnah  although  it  has  interpolations  and  additions 
of  a  later  date,  since  the  sayings  of  men  are  given  who  came 
some  time  after  Rabbi  Jehudah.  The  sixth  Chapter  is 
even  later.  The  Aboth  of  Rabbi  Nathan*67  forms  a  sort  of 
Gemara  to  the  Pirke  Aboth.  Of  Talmudic  treatises 
Derech  Eretz  and  Derech  eretz  Zuta  contain  proverbs.  The 
number  proverbs  are  collected  in  the  Pirke  Derabbenu 
Hakkadosh.*68  The  proverbs  scattered  throughout  the 
Talmud  have  been  collected  in  more  or  less  complete  form 
by  various  writers.  Dukes,  Blumenlese*69  has  good  com- 
parisons with  the  Midrashic  and  middle  age  literature  but 
it  cannot  lay  any  claim  to  completeness.  Schuhl  "Sen- 
tences et  Proverbes  du  Talmud  et  du  Midrasch,"  Paris 
1878,  has  comparisons  with  the  classic  authors.  There  is 
a  book  Millin  Derabanan*70  Perle,  Sefer  Ozar  Leshon 
Hachamim,  Warsaw  1900,  has  by  far  the  most  complete 
collection,  though  some  of  the  quotations  introduced  can 
be  called  gnomic  only  by  a  very  broad  interpretation  of 
the  word.  The  Mibhar  Hapeninim*71  comes  into  the  litera- 
ture through  the  Arabic.  For  other  collections  of  the 
Middle  Ages  see  Dukes  Blumenlese,  54-56. 

Not  all  the  forms  under  the  term  mashal  can  properly 
enter  into  the  discussion.  It  is  evident  that  some  fall  far 
outside  the  subject.  It  is  intended  therefore  to  limit  the 
discussion  to  the  proverbs  and  maxims,  and  of  the  literature 
outside  of  the  Bible  and  the  Apocrypha  it  is  proposed  to  make 
only  use  for  the  sake  of  comparison. 

31 


2.  Form  of  the  Gnomic  Saying 

Examination  of  the  fragments  as  found  in  the  historical 
and  poetical  books  of  the  Bible  will  show  that  the  proverbs 
were  in  many  cases  devoid  of  the  parallelistic  structure  that 
characterizes  the  set  proverb  of  the  wisdom  books.  The 
proverb  quoted  as  a  "mashal  kadmoni"  in  1  Sam  24, 13  is  a 
simple  statement — pan  NX'  B'jjena.  The  retort  of  1  Kings 
20,  11  is  also  of  this  simple  nature — nnsn^  -ijnn  ^nrp  ^*. 
Similarly  void  of  the  parallelistic  structure  is  the  quotation 
from  popular  theology  in  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel  concern- 
ing sin  and  heredity — rw»npn  D'ann  >:BM  IDS  rt3K'  nun. 
Similarly  1  Sam  25,  25 — Kin  12  io»r,  and  1  Kings  12, 
10 — IDK  'jnan  nip  »:EP  and  Habakukl,14 — n  ^>BM»  N^  voiz, 
Isaiah  22,  13 — m&a  inn  »s  intri  ^ir« ;  Ezekiel  16,  44 — 
nns  noNr,  Judges  8,  21 — irnnj  B"»C.  That  the  com- 
pleter  form  existed,  1  Sam  16,  7 — o'3>^  n»r»  m«n  1s 
3^  nui'  ninn  ought  to  prove.  The  fragments  in  the  proph- 
ets could  not  help  being  cast  into  the  poetic  mold,  and 
therefore  most  of  the  proverbs  found  in  the  prophetic  books 
have  the  parallelistic  structure  characteristic  of  the  other 
portions  of  the  writings.  So  Isaiah  28,  20;  66,  8;  49,  24; 
45,  9-10;  40,  12-16;  33,  13-16;  32,  6-8;  10,  15;  1,  3; 
Jeremiah  49,  9;  18,14;  17,5-8;  9,22-23;  8,7;  Amos  6,  12; 
3,6;  3,5;  3,4;  3,3;  Hosea  6,  3;  4,  14;  (here  from  the  con- 
text we  have  assumed  that  we  have  the  b  of  a  proverb  of 
two  members)  13,3;  14,10;  10,12-13;  8,7;  6,6;  6,  4b. 
That  the  quotations  in  Ecclesiastes  should  have  the 
parallelistic  form  is  to  be  expected.  The  quotations  in 
Psalms  have  the  same  structure  as  the  work  itself,  therefore 
are  parallelistic.  With  the  aid  of  these  fragments,  then, 

32 


the  history  of  the  proverb  can  be  reconstructed.  The  prov- 
erb began  as  a  simple  statement,  a  pithy  observation,  and 
survived  in  such  a  form  in  later  times  either  in  the  quota- 
tions from  the  mouth  of  the  people,  or  as  sayings  whose 
proverbial  force  was  recognized  and  therefore  were  allowed 
to  stand  as  they  were.  But  the  poetical  form  of  the  rest  of 
Hebrew  writing  seized  upon  the  proverb  and  made  it  con- 
form to  the  law  of  parallelism.  When  we  get  to  the  book 
of  Proverbs,  we  have  that  structure  highly  developed, 
largely  in  the  form  of  sentences  composed  of  two  members, 
that  are  compared  affirmatively  with  each  other  with  or 
without  the  sign  of  the  connection,  but  often  also  anti- 
thetically placed.  This  structure  of  the  Proverb  exists  out- 
side of  the  wisdom  books.  As  already  pointed  out,  it  is 
found  also  in  the  Prophets.  Further  it  is  found  also  in 
Ben  Sira  who  modelled  his  style  closely  upon  Proverbs. 
It  is  found  moreover,  in  the  gnomic  fragments  of  the 
Genizah*72  and  of  the  three  quotations  of  the  still  unidenti- 
fied Eliezer  Ben  Irai,  quoted  by  Saadia  (see  Harkawy, 
Zikkaron  Larishonin  pp  176,  178),  one  of  which  however  is 
really  a  quotation  from  Ben  Sira,  two  have  this  structure, 
one  an  antithetic  parallelism  and  the  other  a  comparison. 
At  times  when  the  relationship  between  the  two  members 
is  that  of  comparison,  it  may  not  even  be  indicated,  the  two 
statements  being  placed  side  by  side.  Thus,  for  example, 
Proverbs  25,  11  HJDIR  ty  im  in  «p3  nvawaa  nnr  »nen 
"Apples  of  gold  in  figures  of  silver — a  word  spoken  in 
proper  manner."  Compare  with  this  Ben  Sira  26,  18  which 
was  most  probably  also  put  in  this  form — "Golden  pillars 
upon  sockets  of  silver — fair  feet  with  a  constant  heart." 
The  Greek  version  inserts  "kai."  Similarly  Proverbs  25,  12 
njrai  v  in*  ty  oun  main  oro  toi  am  DTJ  "An  earring  of  gold 
and  a  pendant  of  fine  gold — a  wise  reprover  to  an  ear  that 
listeneth."  Similarly  Proverbs  25,  14  PR  otwi  nm  o»R'tw 
iptr  nnoa  ^nna  B"K  Clouds  and  wind  without  rain — 
a  man  that  vaunteth  falsely  of  a  gift." 

33 


The  distich  grows  into  a  tristich,  common  outside  of 
Chapters  10-22  of  Proverbs,  for  example,  Pro  25,  8;  13,  20; 
27,  10;  28,  10;  or  even  into  a  tetrastich  26,  18.19.  24.25, 
and  even  a  pentastich  25,  6-7.  At  times  the  proverb  will 
grow  to  the  length  of  proverbs  27,  23-27  or  24,  30-34. 

A  common  form  of  the  proverb  in  the  fragments  is  the 
interrogative.  Amos  has  it  in  3,  4;  3,  3;  3,  5-6;  6,  12. 
Habakuk  3,  8.  Jeremiah  18.  14;  Isaiah  10,  15;  28,  24-25; 
40,12-16;  45,9-10.  49,15;  49,24;  66,8.  Job  has  a  number 
of  such  passages  6,  5-6;  7,  1 ;  8,  11.  12,  11.  So  has  the 
Psalms— 30,  10,  88,  11-13;  94,  9-10;  89,  49. 

So  far  the  inner  structure.  The  sequence  with  which 
one  proverb  will  follow  another  is,  at  least,  in  Proverbs, 
generally  arbitrary.  One  proverb  has  slight  or  no  connec- 
tion with  the  next  in  thought.  Some  of  the  deviations  in  the 
text  of  the  Septuagint  are  thus  accounted  for.  Sometimes  a 
catch  word  will  suggest  the  following  proverb.  Perhaps  it 
may  be  said  that  the  subject  matter  will  suggest  the  succeed- 
ing proverb  without  there  being  any  strict  logical  connection. 
For  example  "king"  suggests  the  order  or  better  the  placing 
of  16,  12-15  after  verse  10.  The  notion  of  righteousness 
suggested  the  order  of  11,  4-10. 

If  Bickell  (Kritische  Bearbeitung  d.  Proverbien  W.  Z. 
K.  M.  1891)  be  correct,  the  letter  of  the  alphabet  suggested 
the  order  of  some  of  the  verses.  Thus  in  Chapter  11, 
verses  9-12  begin  with  u,  in  20,  7-9  we  have  D,  in  20,  24-26 
we  have  again  Q  ,  in  22-24  we  have  y,  in  22,  26-28  K ,  in  18, 
20-22  D  once  more,  in  15,  12-14  t).  However,  it  is  quite 
possible  that  this  is  purely  accidental.  One  might  as  well 
argue  that  in  the  old  alphabet  the  n  preceded  the  ^  ,  because 
of  a  three-fold  repetition  of  that  order  in  16,  17-18,  20-21, 
22-23.  If  such  a  principle  had  obtained  and  had  been  con- 
sciously adopted  by  the  compiler  and  carried  out,  we  would 
expect  to  find  more  of  it,  and  what  is  more  important,  in 
the  face  of  the  fact  that  alphabetic  progression  in  composi- 

34 


tion  was  known  we  would  be  right  in  expecting  in  a  conscious 
arrangement,  which  this  theory  implies,  to  see  something 
more  than  a  mere  grouping  of  the  same  letters.  We  should 
see  a  progression  in  the  alphabetic  order.  But  nowheres 
under  the  conditions  named  is  the  next  letter  an  advance 
in  the  alphabetic  order  upon  the  letter  of  the  group.  It  is 
therefore  necessary  to  assume  that  the  succession  of  verses 
with  the  same  initial  letter  is  unconscious  on  the  part  of  the 
compiler. 

We  do  find  proverbs  alphabetically  connected  in  Prov- 
erbs. (Pro  33,  10-31)  and  in  the  gnomic  Psalms — 37,  where 
the  alphabet  is  given  in  alternate  verses.  The  o  is  missing 
but  it  is  easily  restored  by  dropping  the  initial  i  in  39. 
The  y  can  be  restored  by  the  suggested  LXX  reading 
(  notw  a'liy'i  D'^ip  see  Baethgen  Com.  in  Loco).  The  alpha- 
betic form  is  found  also  in  Ps  25,  34,  111,  112,  119,  145. 
Ps.  34  misses  the  vav.  Ps  25  begins  with  the  aleph  (the 
superscription,  of  course,  can  be  omitted.  In  the  second 
verse  the  beth  can  be  taken  from  the  12.  in1?*  is  by  the 
Septuagint  connected  with  verse  1,  and  while  a  transposi- 
tion of  the  two  words  would  still  give  the  desired  a,  the 
versions  do  not  assume  such  a  transposition.  In  Psalm  110, 
there  are  eight  verses  to  each  letter.  Bickell  had  already 
forseen  that  Ben  Sira  51  should  be  an  alphabetic  poem  and 
attempted  with  this  underlying  thought  a  reconstruction 
according  to  the  versions.  By  the  discovery  of  the  original 
Hebrew  text,  this  restoration  is,  of  course,  set  aside  but  his 
thesis  is  proven  correct.  The  Alphabets  of  Sira*78  will 
naturally  suggest  themselves  but  these  are  of  late  date — 
that  is  some  of  the  proverbs  are  old  but  the  alphabetic  form 
and  outline  date  from  the  tenth  century  and  cannot  there- 
fore enter  into  the  discussion  here. 

Besides  the  grouping  of  the  proverbs  under  the  alpha- 
betic headings,  there  existed  another  method  and  in  the 
discussion  of  this  method  the  forms  that  we  can  find  still 

35 


lingering  in  the  prophetic  writings  will  be  of  great  value. 
The  form  referred  to  is  found  in  Pro  6,  16-19.  The  LXX  has 
destroyed  the  form  here  by  an  ignorant  misreading  of  both 
consonants  and  vowels  of  shesh,  which  it  made  over  into  sas 
and  by  misreading  yiv; ,  into  -aty.*74  The  form  is  further 
found  in  Chapter  30  where  statements  are  arranged  under 
numerical  headings — "two  things  have  I  asked  of  thee" — 
"four  things  are  comely  in  their  going"  29-31;  four  wise 
animals;  four  things  the  earth  cannot  bear  21-23;  four 
things  that  are  marvelous  18-20;  four  things  that  are 
insatiable  15-16;  and  seven  things  which  are  an  abomina- 
tion. Ps  62,  12  D'flM>  Tip  »3  »nj?J2tt>  IT  OTtV  B'fl^K  131  nHN 

is  cast  into  the  mold  of  the  number  proverb  but  it  is  hardly 
to  be  considered  a  proverb.  The  same  can  be  said  of  Job 
33,  14 — "For  once  doth  the  Lord  speak  and  a  second  time 
and  man  will  not  see  it "  and  of  Job  40,  5 — "One  thing  have 
I  said  and  I  shall  not  add."  In  Job  33,  29  tyst  n^x  ^a  in 
•m  oy  tnte  mnj?B  ?«  there  is  the  use  of  the  numbers  to  indi- 
cate an  indefinite  quantity  not  at  all  parallel  to  the  usage 
in  Proverbs  30.  The  same  use,  to  show  indefinite  number, 
underlies  Isaiah  17,  6  ntran  npnx  ,onjij  n»te  a^v  2  Kings 
9,  32  D'D'io  rvsrhv  D'JtyMicah  5,  4  DTK  »r'W  PISOBM  D'pn  njn» 
Hosea  6,  2  ijio'p'  »BM^BTJ  Di»a  D'ovo  ia»'iv.  The  passages 
in  Amos  will  be  considered  later. 

To  these  there  should  be  added  the  "two"  proverbs 
which  have  by  all  commentators  been  neglected,  but  which, 
for  a  reason  later  to  be  given,  ought  to  be  included  and 
especially  noted — Proverbs  27,  3 — "A  stone  hath  heaviness 
and  sand  weight,  but  a  fool's  vexing  is  heavier  than  both" 
29,  13 — "The  poor  man  and  the  man  of  exactions  meet 
together,  the  Lord  enlighteneth  the  eyes  of  both  of  them;" 

24,  22 "who  knoweth  the  ruin  of  both  of  them;" 

20,  12 — "The  ear  that  heareth  and  the  eye  that  seeth,  the 
Lord  hath  made  both  of  them;"  17,  15 — "He  who  declareth 
the  wicked  innocent  and  he  that  condemneth  the  righteous, 

36 


yea,  both  of  them  are  equally  abominable  to  the  Lord." 
20,  10 — "Diverse  weight  and  diverse  measures  are  both  of 
them  an  abomination  unto  the  Lord."  Ecclesiastes  4,  2-3 — 
"Therefore  praised  I  the  dead,  that  are  already  dead  more 
than  the  living  that  are  still  alive,  and  as  happier  than 
both  of  them,  him  who  hath  not  yet  come  into  being;" 
Ben  Sira  40,  18-26,  but  for  obvious  reasons  these  are  of 
secondary  value  since  they  may  be  consciously  modelled 
on  the  form  as  found  in  Proverbs;  Deut.  23,  19 — "Thou 
shalt  not  bring  the  gift  of  a  harlot  and  the  price  of  a  dog 
(male  prostitute)  into  the  house  of  the  Lord  for  any  vow. 
For  both  of  these  are  abomination  unto  the  Lord  thy  God." 
This  last  however,  belongs  here  only  because  of  the  form. 
Proverbial  value  it  has  none. 

The  number  proverb  is  found  also  in  Ben  Sira.*75  There 
are  three  kinds  of  men  that  multiply  sin  and  bring  forth 
wrath  23,  16;  in  three  things  is  wisdom  beautified  25,  1; 
three  sorts  of  men  wisdom  hates  25,  2;  ten  things  wisdom 
judges  happy  25,  7;  four  things  wisdom  feareth  26,  5; 
three  things  anger  wisdom  26,  28;  four  kinds  of  vicissitudes 
that  appear  in  man's  life  37,  18;  three  nations  that  are 
abhorrent  50,  25-26. 

It  is  important  to  note  that  many  of  these  number 
proverbs  are  progressive:  that  is,  they  start  with  one 
number,  make  a  statement  and  then  add  one  more  to  the 
number  and  intensify  the  original  assertion.  Proverbs  30,  21 
under  three  things  the  earth  trembleth  and  four  she  cannot 
bear;  30,  15 — there  are  three  things  that  are  never  satisfied 
and  four  which  will  not  say  'plenty';  30,  29 — there  are 
three  things  which  have  a  stately  step  and  four  which  are 
comely  in  their  going;  30,  18 — there  are  three  things  which 
are  too  wonderful  for  me  and  four  that  I  do  not  know.  In 
Ben  Sira,  we  have  26,  5 — there  be  three  things  that  grieve 
my  heart  and  of  the  fourth  I  am  sore  afraid ;  26,  28 — there 
are  two  things  that  grieve  my  heart  and  the  third  makes  me 

37 


angry;  50,  25 — two  nations  the  heart  abhorreth  and  the 
third  is  no  people.  The  order  "three  and  four"  is  the  most 
common,  occurring  as  it  does  five  times. 

But  the  number  proverb  has  not  reached  its  longest 
development  in  Proverbs  and  Ben  Sira.  It  is  found  very 
frequently  in  later  Hebrew  literature.  The  fifth  chapter  of 
the  "Chapter  of  the  Fathers"  contains  many  statements 
cast  into  this  form,  though  some  of  them  can  hardly  be 
called  proverbial.  In  the  number  ten  we  have  the  "ten 
words  of  creation,"  the  ten  generations  between  Adam  and 
Noah,  and  between  Noah  and  Abraham,  the  ten  trials  of 
Abraham,  the  ten  plagues.  Of  the  number  seven  we  have 
the  seven  qualities  that  characterize  the  wise  man  and  the 
fool;  the  seven  punishments  meted  out  for  seven  specified 
sins.  Of  four,  there  are  the  four  kinds  of  men  classified  by 
their  attitude  towards  property  rights,  four  kinds  of  minds, 
four  kinds,  or  better,  degrees  of  charity,  four  kinds  of  stu- 
dents. Of  three,  the  three  characteristics  that  mark  the 
disciple  of  Abraham,  and  the  three  distinguishing  the 
follower  of  Balaam.  A  collection  of  number  proverbs  seems 
to  lie  back  of  all  of  these.  The  section  dealing  with  all  this 
is  not  written  in  the  general  style  of  the  Pirke  Aboth  which 
started  out  to  be  a  record  of  the  sayings  of  individual  teachers. 
These  are  set  down  without  regard  to  the  authors,  but  are 
entered  by  numerical  arrangement.  A  collection  of  number 
proverbs  is  to  be  found  in  the  Pirke  Derabbenu  Hakkadosh 
(numbers  3  to  12).  Dr.  L.  Griinhut  in  the  Sefer  Halikutim 
Jerusalem  1903.  More  are  to  be  found  in  the  onso  ntrte 
D'nncJ  of  Schonblum  and  in  the  third  volume  of  the  Beth 
Talmud,  Vienna  1883. 

A  comparison  of  a  number  proverb  running  through  the 
various  sources  will  reveal  a  very  interesting  and  important 
fact.  The  Pirke  Derabbenu  Hakkadosh  (edition  Schonblum) 
has  under  the  number  five  (p.  18)  the  following  proverb: 
woman  onm  *i»oa  ipt  fiiz  i»trjn  n»o  'h  in'hiD  njnn  PK  n»on 

38 


:nvm»i  D'aya  ne^tf  IK  ontr  intrw  n«  truem  nans 
"Five  the  mind  cannot  tolerate  a  poor  man  who  is  proud, 
a  rich  man  who  is  a  robber,  an  old  man  who  is  adulterous, 
the  communal  leader  who  lords  it  over  the  community 
and  a  man  who  divorces  his  wife  two  or  three  times  and 
takes  her  back  again." 

It  is  quite  evident  that  the  proverb  must  have  been 
originally  concerned  with  the  distinction  between  the  rich 
and  the  poor  and  the  qualities  which  are  incongruous  in  each. 
Then  out  of  the  general  notion  of  incongruity  of  actual 
quality  and  station  with  its  supposed  quality  there  arose 
the  third.  But  the  fifth  member  in  this  number  proverb  is 
assurredly  out  of  place,  while  the  fourth  member  no  longer 
preserves  the  short  concise  statement  into  which  the  first 
three  members  are  put.  The  fifth  is  even  more  clumsy  in 
this  respect.  Now  tracing  the  proverb  backwards  through 
the  authorities,  we  find  that  in  Tal.  Bab.  Pesachim  113b,*76 
the  proverb  is  actually  given  as  a  number  four  proverb  and 
the  section  that  in  the  Schonblum  edition  makes  it  a  proverb 
of  five  members  is  here  given  as  a  separate  statement  with 
the  introduction  formula  "veyesh  omerim"  =  "and  some 
say."  But  the  fourth  member  is  clumsy  and  as  seen  does 
not  correspond  in  style  to  the  construction  of  the  first  three. 
A  comparison  with  Sira  25,  2  shows  that  this  awkward 
fourth  was  a  later  addition,  and  the  proverb  therefore 
appears  as  an  original  three-membered  proverb.  The  one 
in  Pesachim  is  evidently  a  quotation  from  Ben  Sira,  though 
no  acknowledgment  is  there  made  of  the  source  (the  fact 
of  the  quotation  is  already  noted  by  Reifman  Haasif  Vol  3). 
We  cannot  go  further  back  and  trace  it  to  a  two-numbered 
proverb.  But  this  must  have  been  its  original  form.  Then 
it  would  have  been  thoroughly  homogeneous.  How  the 
transition  from  a  two-numbered  proverb  to  one  of  the  three 
class  could  be  made  is  shown  by  the  series  in  Ben  Sira  40, 
18-26  and  in  the  similar  forms  given  above  in  Proverbs, 

39 


Ecclesiastes  and  Deut.  These  have  been  by  the  commenta- 
tors neglected,  but  in  them  we  have  the  transition  from  the 
two  to  the  three.  In  them  the  third  member  could  be 
drawn  from  an  entirely  different  sphere  than  the  one  to 
which  the  first  two  belonged  as  for  example — "A  child  and 
a  city  establish  a  name,  but  finding  wisdom  is  better  than 
both"  in  Sira  40.  Or  this  one  in  Proverbs — "A  stone  hath 
heaviness  and  sand  hath  weight,  but  a  fool's  vexing  is 
heavier  than  both  of  them."  The  original  form  of  the 
proverb  in  Sira  would  by  this  have  been  "A  poor  man  who 
is  proud  and  a  rich  man  who  is  a  robber  are  intolerable, 
but  worse  than  both  is  an  old  man  who  is  adulterous."  That 
would  satisfy  all  the  demands  of  homogeneity  of  construction. 
It  is  quite  true  that  the  number  proverb  is  far  more 
plentiful  in  later  literature  than  in  Proverbs  and  Sira. 
Nevertheless  the  contention  that  a  proverb  thrown  into 
the  number  form  is  by  that  fact  to  be  assumed  of  late  origin 
as  is  generally  assumed  seems  to  me  to  be  unwarranted. 
Wildeboer*77  "Cap  30  und  31  gehoren  wahrscheinlich  zu 
den  jiingsten  stucken.  Darauf  weisen  die  Zahlenspriiche 
und  das  Alphabetische  Lied  am  Schluss  30,  10-31."  Franken- 
berg  in  his  commentary*7"  to  Proverbs  6,  16  has  this  to  say 
concerning  the  number  form — "Bereits  in  der  altesten 
prophetischen  Literatur,  bei  Amos,  auftretend,  sind  sie 
doch  erst  in  der  Spruchliteratur-Proverbien  und  Sirach — 
eine  gelaufige  liter.  Kunstgattung  geworden."  Toy*7 
referring  to  Pro  30,  llff,  says  "the  artificial  tetradic  form  is 
probably  late."  He  puts  this  section  as  late  as  200  B.  C. 
[See  his  article  Proverbs  in  J.  E.]  "The  fact  that  similar 
numerical  proverbs  were  popular  in  the  early  Rabbinical 
period  gives  a  certain  support  to  the  view  that  this  collection 
is  of  late  origin,  "see  Cheyne,  Job  and  Solomon  p.  153,  New 
York,  1887.  But  the  one  date,  or  better  era,  which  is  not  in 
doubt,  and  about  which  criticism  can  give  no  other  opinion, 
the  time  of  the  prophecy  of  Amos,  makes  it  necessary  for  us 

40 


to  assume  that  the  literary  form  of  the  number  proverb 
must,  contrary  to  the  opinion  of  Toy,  Frankenberg  and 
Wildeboer  and  Cheyne  antedate  the  reign  of  Hezekiah. 
Arguing  therefore  purely  from  the  standpoint  of  form  and 
that  the  number  form,  the  collection  of  the  number  proverbs 
in  Proverbs  30,  instead  of  being  exilic  need  not  be  later  than 
the  collection  of  the  proverbs  made  by  or  under  the  direc- 
tion of  King  Hezekiah.  It  must  have  been  in  existence 
much  earlier.  And  for  this  reason.  We  have  in  Amos  a 
usage  of  numbering  which  it  is  possible  to  assume,  as 
Frankenberg  does,  is  the  origin  of  the  number  proverb  and  to 
explain  as  being  an  imperfect  and  rudimentary  form  of  a  later 
highly  developed  artistic  one.  Or  it  is  possible  to  explain 
Amos,  as  does  Nowack*80  that  "drei  und  vier  dienen  dazu 
eine  unbestimmte  vielheit  zum  Ausdruck  zu  bringen,"  or 
as  Konig*81  "wegen  einer  unbegrentzten  und  deshalb 
erschreckenden  Reihe  von  Vergehen."  But  it  is  more  to 
the  point  to  say  that  Amos  has  his  expression  modelled 
after  a  current  number  system  of  proverb  writing.  Other- 
wise we  could  not  understand  Amos  at  all.  His  usage  is 
quite  different  from  the  usage  in  Isaiah  17,  6  or  2  Kings 
9,  32,  Micah  5,  4  or  Hosea  6,  2  above  quoted.  There  the 
indefinite  use  of  the  numerals  can  be,  and  is,  granted,  and 
there  the  grammatical  explanation  will  cover  the  case. 
But  in  Amos  we  have  not  a  grammatical  difficulty  to 
explain  or  a  question  of  lexicography  to  decide.  His  "for 

three    transgressions and   for   four"   without   the 

counting,  or  without  any  attempt  at  counting  presupposes 
a  mold  which  Amos  had  ready  to  hand.  His  phrase  was 
dependant  for  its  intelligibility  and  effectiveness  upon  the 
fact  that  the  people  were,  through  some  source  or  another, 
acquainted  with  that  numbered  proverb  form  of  expression 
and  would  in  their  minds  pass  over  the  three  and  dwell  on 
the  fourth  which  in  the  proverb  style  was  the  most  weighty 
and  important.  Such  a  form  is  given  to  us  in  the  proverbial 

41 


literature  in  Pro.  30  and  as  has  been  shown  above,  the 
three-four  proverb  is  the  commonest  form  of  the  numbered- 
progressive  proverb.  That  Amos  wrote  not  without  having 
literary  models  before  him  in  his  work  is  conceded.  But 
these  models  have  so  far  been  limited  to  the  literary  pro- 
ductions of  the  prophetic  classes.  Harper* s2  speaks  "of  the 
prophetic  technique  and  nomenclature  which  Amos  found 
in  existence."  Davidson*83  says — "In  Amos,  the  oldest 
literary  prophet,  we  find  a  religious  nomenclature  already 
complete."  "Nothing  is  more  clear  than  that  he  had 
predecessors  in  this  work,  who  had  developed  in  no  small 
degree  a  technical  nomenclature  of  prophecy."  Harper*84 
says  of  Amos'  materials — "Prophetic  formulas  which  as 
employed  by  Amos  show  long  and  technical  usage."  But 
Amos  had  more  than  this.  If  the  reasoning  above  given  is 
valid,  Amos  had  the  proverbial  technique  as  well.  And 
this  possession  is  substantiated  by  a  further  critical  examina- 
tion of  the  text  of  both  Amos  and  Hosea.  The  quotations 
above  given  from  the  books  of  these  prophets  show  that 
they  had  a  popular  proverbial  literature  and  technique  to 
draw  from.  Wildeboer*85  speaking  of  the  artistic  forms  of 
the  proverbs,  in  an  argument  for  the  lateness  says  that 
popular  proverbs  "zeichnen  sich  gewohnlich  durch  kiirze 
und  Einfachheit  aus."  But  the  fragments  collected  show 
that  that  period  of  beginnings  must  be  put  very  far  back. 
Hosea  4,  14b,  in  fact,  presupposes  a  written  document 
quoted  by  the  prophet.  The  number  proverb,  therefore, 
instead  of  being  late  in  the  development  of  Hebrew  litera- 
ture is  made  by  this  study  to  date  at  least  from  the  end  of 
the  ninth  century.  It  demands  that  time  be  given  for  the 
spread  of  the  knowledge  of  the  form  so  that  when  Amos 
uses  it  in  a  skeleton  outline,  it  would  be  recognized  at  once. 
At  any  rate  the  very  latest  limit  for  the  dating  of  the 
appearance  of  the  number  proverb  is  fixed  by  the  appearance 
of  Amos  as  the  heir  to  the  literary,  prophetic  and  proverbial 

craft  of  the  earlier  days. 

42 


So  far  we  have  made  the  attempt  to  establish  the  possi- 
bility of  a  numbered  proverb  text  being  comparatively  old. 
The  one  argument  that  might  at  first  militate  against  the 
assuming  of  Prov.  30  as  possibly  old  is  the  presence  of 
"Alkum"  in  the  numbered  proverb  in  30,  29-31  and  of 
"Miz"  in  the  section  immediately  following  upon  the 
genuinely  numbered  series.  For  while  in  section  verse  23 
there  is  no  attempt  at  numbering  we  have  here  as  well  as 
in  verses  11-14  virtually  numbered  proverbs.  The  argu- 
ment then  is,  that  these  words  being  late  testify  that  the 
sections  in  which  they  occur  are  late.  We  would  set  this 
argument  aside,  as  being  in  the  last  analysis  of  very  little 
or  of  no  value.  The  question  of  vocabulary  is  of  the  least 
original  decisive  value  in  criticism.  It  is  legitimately  to  be 
used  only  when  it  is  employed  as  corroborative  and  con- 
tributory evidence.  It  cannot  be  legitimately  used  as  start- 
ing point  for  an  argument  of  dating,  unless  through  other 
sources  the  dating  has  been  established.  Once  a  date  has 
been  fixed,  then  the  study  of  the  vocabulary  is  in  order. 
It  can  never  operate  in  the  other  direction.  Of  the  least 
value  moreover,  as  a  help  for  dating  is  a  word  which  is 
claimed  to  be  Aramaic.  The  word  confessedly  Aramaic 
may  have  come  late  into  the  language,  it  is  true.  It  may 
date,  say  from  the  Talmudic  period  for  that  matter.  But 
on  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  as  early  as  the  first  wanderings 
of  the  early  Hebraic  Palestinian  immigrants  who  came  via 
many  languages  and  especially  through  the  language  of  the 
Syrian  districts  into  "the  land  of  the  fathers."  Ancient 
peoples  also  had  international  intercourse  and  many  words 
were  carried  backwards  and  forwards  along  the  lines  of 
commercial  relationship  or  of  hostile  and  predatory  incur- 
sions as  well  as  in  the  border  intermingling  of  blood.  To  seek 
to  use  Aramaic  words  as  a  means  of  dating  without  more 
ado  is  evidently  impossible  and  may  lead  to  absurd  con- 
clusions. It  is  no  dating  at  all.*88  Moreover,  we  have 

43 


words  in  the  so  called  later  Hebrew  that  undoubtedly 
existed  in  earlier  writings  that  were  lost,  or  existed  in  the 
popular  speech  alone  and  were  not  called  on  to  do  duty  in 
the  written  speech,  because  they  were  not  needed.  There 
was  no  occasion  for  them.  As  a  matter  of  fact  when  we 
come  to  the  popular  proverbs,  we  do  come  across  words 
that  are  found  nowhere  else.  That  is  the  case  with  "  Mazor  " 
— "hindrance,"  1  Sam  25,  14.  Parosh  "flea"  occurs  only 
in  the  popular  saying  1  Sam  25,  14.  Now  it  would  be 
obviously  inconclusive  to  draw  deductions  as  to  dating  of 
the  text  or  of  the  invasion  of  the  flea  in  Palestinian  house- 
holds from  this  fact.  It  simply  means  that  there  was  no 
occasion  in  literature  of  prophetic  monition  to  mention  the 
parosh,  while  popular  speech  preserved  it.  The  "alukah 
of  Chapter  31  Proverbs  has  the  same  history  and  interpreta- 
tion. Maza  owes  its  existence  and  survival  in  literature  to 
the  popular  proverb  in  Isaiah  28,  20.  And  if  the  reading 
" mehithcanes "  be  maintained*87  the  Aramaism  involved 
would  be  quite  natural  in  a  popular  speech.  "Masor" 
owes  its  survival  to  the  proverb  in  Isaiah  10,  15.  The  word 
for  little  finger  occurs  only  in  the  proverbs  of  1  Kings  12,  10. 
Habarburoth  comes  from  the  proverb  in  Jeremiah  13,  23. 
The  root  kahah  is  almost  wholly  a  contribution  of  the  popu- 
lar proverb  of  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel  (31,  29  and  18,  2 
respectively).  It  occurs  elsewhere  only  in  Ecclesiastes 
which  approaches  the  conversational  style  and  which  for  a 
reason  to  be  given  later,  we  consider  in  the  same  class  with 
the  popular  proverbs  of  this  type.  The  form  helech  "  travel- 
ler," is  found  only  in  the  parable  in  2  Sam  12,  4.  The  very 
expressive  figure  "to  extinguish  the  burning  coal"  meaning 
by  that  to  destroy  life  is  also  a  phrase  of  the  popular  proverb 
series  (2  Sam  14,  7).  The  Stem  LET  is  found  only  in  a 
quotation  in  Hosea  and  in  a  verse  in  Proverbs.  It  is  follow- 
ing the  same  line  of  thought,  and  for  the  same  reason  that 
we  have  words  in  Proverbs  that  occur  nowhere  else.  It  is 

44 


not  a  question  primarily  of  dating  or  of  time  at  all.  And  if 
there  is  nothing  else  to  show  dating  the  vocabulary  solely 
should  not  be  relied  upon  to  establish  it.  It  simply  means 
that  the  book  strikes  a  vein  that  others  have  not  been  called 
on  to  dig  for.  It  implies  that  the  proverb  writer  drew  on  an 
entirely  different  field  of  observation ;  other  things  came  to 
his  vision,  than  let  us  say,  came  to  the  writer  of  Leviticus, 
and  therefore  the  vocabulary  had  to  be  different  in  a  meas- 
sure.  So  the  "ant"  "nemalah"  is  found  only  in  Proverbs. 
Bearing  in  mind  that  we  have  in  the  Biblical  Hebrew  no  word 
for  the  commonest  things  and  operations  for  example,  there 
is  no  word  for  "  needle  "in  Biblical  Hebrew,  though  it  is  found 
in  so-called  later  Hebrew;  that  spinning  was  an  ordinary 
operation,  that  the  verb  is  found — "  mta  "  so  is  the  word  for 
the  thing  that  is  spun  niao  but  there  is  no  word  for  "spindle ;" 
that  there  is  no  word  for  "loom;"  that  some  of  the  words 
indicating  tradesmen  that  are  found  in  the  Mishnah  must 
be  survivals  of  the  old  days,  we  can  understand  how  much  of 
a  vocabulary  existed  without  being  registered  in  Biblical 
Literature.  It  is  not  surprising  then  that  the  popular 
fragments  should  have  rescued  a  few  from  oblivion. 

In  short,  the  material  at  hand  for  the  exact  determina- 
tion of  dating  through  vocabulary  is  entirely  too  inadequate 
to  give  us  the  right  to  declare  arbitrarily  the  line  when  the 
Biblical  and  the  "late"  meet  and  where  the  separation 
begins.  As  a  matter  of  reason,  much  of  what  is  called  late 
Hebrew  or  marked  in  the  lexicons  as  Neo-Hebrew  or 
Mishnic  with  an  implication  of  lateness  of  origin  would 
really  be  found  in  early  Hebrew — if  we  had  the  complete 
vocabulary  of  early  days — though  now  is  unfortunately 
only  registered  in  the  literature  that  we  have  in  the  late 
sources.  It  remains  therefore,  as  previously  stated  that  the 
number  proverb  is  presupposed  by  the  number  formula 
of  Amos  and  must  have  been  developed  long  enough  before 
his  time  to  allow  of  its  being  used  as  he  uses  it,  in  outline, 
and  the  vocabulary  argument  is  of  no  avail. 

45 


It  still  remains  to  show  why,  if  the  form  of  the  number 
proverb  is  early,  it  was  used  so  frequently  in  later  times  as 
to  make  it  look  like  a  late  form  of  the  proverb.  This  is  to 
be  accounted  for  by  the  following  reasons.  First,  it  is  the 
simplest  and  most  convenient  way  of  adding  to  a  proverb. 
When  additions  are  made,  instead  of  the  shortest  one  drop- 
ping away,  all  of  the  lengths  ran  on  in  literature  as  separate 
and  independent  proverbs.  This  was  shown  when  a  proverb 
begins  as  a  three  numbered  proverb  in  Sira  and  has  a 
number  added  in  a  later  source  without  the  fact  of  the 
quotation  being  mentioned,  without  taking  the  original 
three  numbered  from  the  literature.  Then  a  fifth  number 
is  added  and  we  have  three  proverbs  to  take  care  of  and 
tabulate  instead  of  the  last  one  only.  Secondly,  when 
literary  style  was  no  more  marked  by  the  rhythm  and 
parallelism  of  Proverbs  and  Ben  Sira  arid  others  under  the 
spell  of  the  Biblical  writers,  grouping  was  done  in  general 
by  numbers.  The  alphabetic  grouping  was  of  course  available. 
But  by  its  very  nature,  it  was  available  for  longer  extracts 
only.  Grouping  under  the  same  letter  is,  as  was  stated 
above,  contrary  to  the  theory  of  Bickell,*88  to  be  regarded 
as  accidental.  Besides  alphabetic  grouping  demanded  a 
certain  amount  of  ingenuity  and  literary  skill,  and  this 
was  not  always  forthcoming.  One  of  the  most  popular  of 
books  the  Pirke  Aboth,  had  a  section  of  number  statements. 
Now  this  book  became  very  early  a  part  of  the  liturgy. 
This  brought  it  very  close  to  the  lives  of  the  people.  With 
this  there  came  as  a  natural  result  a  familiarity  with  the 
number  formula.  Lastly,  what  added  still  more  to  the 
growth  of  the  number  proverb  was  that  the  Halachah,  for 
mnemonic  reasons,  has  adopted  the  same  plan  of  grouping 
(see  Frankel,  Darche  Hamishnah,  page  297,  rule  40  note  2; 
also  page  287,  rule  28  and  note).  Under  this  guidance  of 
Halachic  grouping,  the  older  number  proverb  degenerated 
into  a  jumble  of  things  held  together  by  the  number.  Thus 

46 


the  number  proverbs  in  Aboth  and  to  a  greater  degree  even, 
the  proverbs  in  Aboth  of  Rabbi  Nathan  became  mere 
lexicographical  lists.  This  very  ease  of  composition  brought 
about  the  decay  of  the  number  proverb. 

In  the  hands  of  the  unskilled  in  literary  art,  to  whom 
henceforth  it  appealed,  it  degenerated  into  a  bulky,  un- 
wieldy list  of  qualities,  of  men  and  things.  It  passed 
beyond  the  limits  of  literary  art.  Hence  the  gnomic  frag- 
ments discovered  by  Schechter  in  the  Genizah*89  have  not 
a  single  example  of  what  was  in  former  times  the  most 
popular  mold  for  the  Proverb.  The  Musar  Haskel  of  Hai 
Gaon  has  but  one  example  (Hai  Gaon  Edition  Weiss  p.  73). 
When  it  does  appear  in  the  literature  of  the  middle  ages,  it 
can  be  traced  directly  to  che  Arabic  influence.  For  this 
reason  the  Mibhar  Hapeninim  abounds  in  the  number 
proverb.  (See  Mibhar  Hapeninim  ed.  Dessau,  Berlin  1842, 
pp.  6,  7,  9,  11,  13,  22,  25,  etc.)  For  the  number  proverbs  in 
Arabic  Literature  see  Freytag  Arabum  Proverbia  Vol.  3 
pp.  56-63  for  three-numbered  proverbs;  64-65  eight- 
numbered  proverbs;  p.  65  two-numbered  proverb;  p.  76 
an  involved  three-numbered;  p.  343  two-numbered,  also 
p.  347,  618  the  three  numbered  proverb  attributed  to 
Abu-Bekr,  also  a  four-numbered  one  p.  624,  608  and  609 
proverbs  attributed  to  Mohammed.  At  all  events  the  root 
of  the  number  proverb  in  Jewish  literature  extends  into 
the  pre-exilic  period ;  it  flourishes  through  the  exilic  and  post 
exilic  period  until  by  its  own  weight  it  fell. 

Of  course,  when  the  age  of  the  completion  of  the  Biblical 
canon  was  passed,  a  new  element  entered.  How  that  new 
element  will  operate  is  best  seen  in  Ben  Sira,  the  Hebrew 
text  of  which  we  now  have,  to  a  large  extent  at  hand.  So 
strongly  had  the  language  and  the  turn  of  expression  of  the 
Bible  imprinted  themselves  upon  the  people  that  he  who 
would  write,  perforce,  based  his  plans  upon  them.  In  the 
case  of  Sira  it  included  the  antithetic,  the  parallelistic  and 

47 


the  rhythmic  structure  of  Proverbs,  e.  g.  entr  IDT  DK  nria 
jraj  awn  DN  n^pi  "a  father's  blessing  will  give  foundation 
to  a  root,  but  a  mother's  curse  will  pluck  up  the  plant,  3,  9; 
or  6,  15  on  the  value  of  a  friend — pjo  vn»  PK  nsio*  nniK? 
inDic1?  ^ptro  "Priceless  is  a  faithful  friend  and  his  goodness 
is  beyond  weighing."  Or  this  one  on  haste  in  prayer — 
inyrn  ^>K  npnsai  n^sna  ixpnn  ^"Be  not  too  short  in  prayer 
and  do  not  neglect  almsgiving." 

Ben  Sira  makes  one  advance  on  Proverbs.  He  arranges 
his  material  under  a  system  of  thought  progression — for 
example  3,  1-16,  duties  of  children  to  parents  and  the 
rewards  attendant  upon  the  fulfillment  of  these  duties — 
4,  1-10,  duties  to  the  poor — 6,  5-17,  on  friendship,  true  and 
false — 9,  1-9  conduct  towards  women,  etc.,  etc.  Naturally 
then,  Sira  will  have  longer  proverbs  than  those  ordinarily 
found  in  the  canonical  books.  Here  is  one  covering  eight 
members  (it  is  the  one  quoted  by  Saadia  from  the  otherwise 
unknown  Eliezer  ben  Iraai,  Sefer  Hgalui,  p.  178,  and  that 
it  was  popular  is  attested  by  its  being  quoted  frequently, 
see  Schechter  Jewish  Quarterly  Review  Vol.  3  p.  690, 
698-699  and  attributed  to  Ben  Sira  in  each  case  though  with 
slight  changes  in  the  text).  "Things  too  wonderful  for 
thee  search  thou  not.  That  which  is  hidden  from  thee  seek 
thou  not.  Thou  art  not  permitted  to  think  thereon.  Thou 
hast  no  concern  with  the  secret  things.  Into  that  which  is 
beyond  thee  intrude  thou  not,  for  thou  hast  been  showed 
that  which  is  too  great  for  thee.  For  many  are  the  thoughts 
of  the  sons  of  men,  and  wicked  thoughts  lead  them  astray." 
With  the  thought  compare  Ps.  131, 1,  "O  Lord,  my  heart  is 
not  lofty,  neither  are  mine  eyes  exalted,  and  I  have  had 
no  concern  with  the  things  too  great  and  too  wonderful  for 
me"  and  Deut.  29,  28 — "The  secret  things  belong  to  the 
Lord  our  God,  but  the  revealed  things  to  ourselves  and  to 
our  children,"  etc., and  in  the  Mibhar  Hapeninim,  Sha'ar 
Hayihud  "They  said  to  the  wise  man  'What  is  the  creator?' 

48 


He  answered,  'Speech  concerning  that  of  which  it  is 
impossible  to  have  conception  is  folly,  and  discussion  con- 
cerning that  which  thought  cannot  attain  is  sin '. "  There  is 
a  similar  thought  in  Jehudah  Hallevi  ed.  Harkawy,  Vol  2, 
p.  106,  "Search  his  ways  and  his  deeds,  but  to  Him  do 
not  stretch  forth  thy  hand." 

The  influence  of  the  diction  of  the  Bible  is  very  great 
upon  Ben  Sira.  With  him  we  have  already  the  Paitanic 
style  which  grew  so  bulky  and  mechanical  in  later  days. 
This  Paitanic  style  takes  from  the  Bible  verses  and  parts  of 
verses,  sometimes  uses  them  bodily  without  change,  some- 
times changes  the  form  of  the  verb  or  makes  some  other 
slight  modification  in  the  expression,  combines  verses,  and 
out  of  the  mass  makes  a  new  composition.  It  can  readily 
be  seen  that  this  practice  is  possible  and  of  advantage  only 
when  the  Bible  and  the  Biblical  turn  of  thought  remained 
part  of  the  most  intimate  intellectual  possessions  of  both 
the  writer  and  the  reader.  Its  popularity  would  depend  on 
the  depth  of  knowledge  of  Biblical  matters  that  the  reader 
possessed  and  on  his  ability  to  understand  hints  and 
allusions  to  the  canonical  text.  A  splendid  example  of  the 
style  is  to  be  found  in  the  Mahibereth  Emanuel,  pp.  44-50 
in  which  every  question  is  aptly  answered  by  a  quotation 
from  the  Bible.  A  few  examples  will  show  how  far  Ben  Sira 
was  influenced  by  the  Bible  text.  It  can  be  seen  even  in  the 
English  text  by  comparison  of  2,  16  with  2  Sam  24,  14,  but 
far  more  clearly  in  the  Hebrew  text.  Beginning  with  the 
first  few  lines  of  the  extant  Hebrew  text,  we  find  that  3,  8b 
is  founded  on  Deut  28,  2.  There  is  some  alteration  in  the 
form  of  and  order  of  the  words,  but  the  expression  is  the 
same.  So  3,  29b  is  founded  on  Pro.  2,  2.  But  is  Daniel  4,  24 
a  quotation  of  Ben  Sira  3,  30?  Ben  Sira  6,  6  is  founded  on 
Pro.  11,  4;  6,  14  ]in  XSD  IKSIBI  and  reference  to  Proverbs 
8,  35  shows  what  little  change  that  is  fromn»'n  KSD  IKXIO. 
Incidentally  this  proves  the  integrity  of  the  Hebrew  text 

49 


as  against  the  LXX  "exodoi  mou  exodoi  zoes."  6,  31  is 
based  on  Pro.  4,  9.  There  is  no  need  to  multiply  examples — 
(see  notes  in  the  Wisdom  of  Ben  Sira,  Schechter  and 
Taylor,  pp.  13-25  on  the  text  covered  by  the  edition  and 
also  of  Neubauer's  text.  For  the  remainedr  of  the  text  see 
Strack,  Ben  Sira  and  Smend,  Wesiheit  d,  Jesus  Sirach). 
The  dependence  however,  is  not  completely  indicated  in 
any  of  the  editions.  Ben  Sira  well  deserves  the  praise  that 
his  grandson,  who  translated  the  grandfather's  Hebrew 
text  into  Greek,  gives  him.  In  speaking  of  the  preparation 
that  his  grandfather  brought  to  the  work,  he  says,  "My 
grandfather  Jesus  who  had  given  himself  to  the  study  of  the 
law,  of  the  prophets,  and  other  books  of  our  fathers,  and  had 
gotten  thereby  good  judgment,  was  drawn  on  also,  himself 
to  write  something  pertaining  to  learning  and  wisdom." 
To  this  indebtedness  to  those  who  went  before  him,  and  in 
whose  footsteps  he  walked,  a  faithful  follower,  he  himself 
confesses.  "I  awaked,"  he  writes,  "last  of  all,  as  one  who 
gathereth  after  the  grape  gatherers.  By  the  blessing  of  the 
Lord,  I  profitted  and  filled  my  vine  press  like  a  gatherer  of 
grapes."  23,16.  His  wide  acquaintance  with  the  Bible  and 
the  influence  this  acquaintance  had  upon  his  style  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that  he  draws  upon  the  historical,  prophetic 
and  poetical  books  alike. 

Whenever  1  Mac  departs  from  the  narrative  style  and 
desires  a  poetic  form  to  cover  some  song  of  praise  or  exhorta- 
tion, it  also  falls  into  the  Biblical  style.  See  1  Mac  1,  26-28: 
39-40:  2,  7-13:  3,  3-8,  9:  2,  44;  3,  45;  7,  19  (17)  "The 
flesh  of  thy  saints  have  they  cast  out,  and  their  blood  have 
they  shed  around  Jerusalem,  and  there  was  none  to  bury 
them"  is  an  abbreviated  quotation  of  Psalms  79,  2-3. 
9,  20-21  where  the  Kinah  measure  seems  to  be  preserved; 
9,  41  and  14,  6-15. 

That  the  Bible  was  not  forgotten  among  gnomic  writers 
in  Israel  after  Ben  Sira  is  amply  proven  by  the  unknown 

50 


writer  of  the  Genizah  fragments  above  quoted.  On  page 
5  line  14 — page  6  line  1  we  have  an  amplification  of  Jeremiah 
9,  22,  23.  The  dependence  of  9,  18  nss»  ana  man  upon 
3 no  nut?  B>I«^>  nnr  Pro.  20,  3  is  evident,  and  Dtra  jana  «jrnm 
is  assuredly  founded  upon  Isaiah  55,  2  Draws  tana  «pnm  • 
Compare  the  phrases  in  the  two  proverbs  of  this  gnomic 
writer  with  the  passage  in  Ps.  16,  11 

nsi  moijm  ian  'T  'Bfpno  norn  »an*i 
'n  »JB  ninoa*  IIJDBM  'n  ivr  njna  »nniK 

The  author  will  even  take  up  a  difficulty  in  idiom — page 
8  line  5  on»n  te  ma  'n  rmv  no-am  njn  *IID  from  Ecclesiastes 
12,  13.  Here  is  a  combination  of  Ps.  115,  5  and  Isaiah  44,  8 
onia1?  ^raTto  nts  »a  IKV  K^I  on1?  n'3»^.  But  the  acquaintance 
with  the  Scriptures  does  not  prevent  a  neat  turn  and  an 
excellent  antithesis,  on  page  12  line  2  pjn  Dn»j»y  on'oa  3^ 
Dn-,3^  D'orn  This  might  be  compared  with  a  similar  turn 
in  Sira  21,  26  "The  heart  of  fools  is  in  their  mouth,  but  the 
mouth  of  the  wise  is  in  their  heart."  There  might  here  be  a 
dependence  of  the  gnomic  writer  upon  Ben  Sira. 

The  attempt  has  been  made  to  show  that  the  proverb 
as  it  is  found  in  the  canonical  books,  devoted  to  wisdom 
literature,  is  but  a  section  of  a  larger  stream,  currents  of 
which  are  still  to  be  found  in  the  other  books  of  the  Bible ; 
that  the  form  of  the  proverb  is  the  result  of  long  work  and 
literary  effort,  is  built  upon  the  foundation  of  a  popular 
saying  without  the  parallelistic  mold,  and  gradually 
acquires  the  poetic  form  which  is  already  completed  by  the 
time  of  the  Proverbs,  that  this  form  is  handed  down  through 
Ben  Sira  and  to  later  writers,  is  lost  in  the  writings  of  the 
Talmudic  Literature  and  its  allied  branches  but  appears 
again  in  fragments ;  Saadia  is  witness  to  the  fact  that  such 
books  were  written  and  to  show  their  relationship  to  the 
Biblical  books  they  were  written  or  better,  supplied  with  the 
marks  of  Biblical  books;  that  the  alphabetic  proverb  is  found 
rarely  in  proverbs  and  just  as  rarely  in  Ben  Sira  (the  Alpha- 

51 


bet  of  Ben  Sira  being  a  much  later  work)  hence  as  far  as 
gnomic  literature  is  concerned,  the  alphabetic  form  is  found 
chiefly  in  the  gnomic  Psalms  in  the  canon ;  that  the  number 
proverb  dates  from  early  times  and  must  be  assumed  to 
antedate  the  earliest  of  the  literary  prophets,  part  of  whose 
literary  technique  it  must  be  assumed  to  have  formed,  or 
his  style  would  not  be  explained ;  that  this,  from  ease  of  com- 
position and  special  adaptability  to  additions,  and  under 
the  spell  of  the  Halacha  with  its  methodology  and  also  under 
the  promptings  of  the  popular  book  of  Pirke  Aboth,  became 
the  most  common  form  of  the  proverb,  but  because  of  its 
own  weight,  the  form  became  non-literary  and  impossible 
from  the  literary  standpoint,  until  from  Arabic  sources  it 
regained  some  currency;  finally  that  the  style  of  Proverbs 
and  the  expressions  of  the  Biblical  books  in  general  domi- 
nated and  determined  the  form,  the  phraseology  and  the 
style  of  Ben  Sira  and  the  later  gnomic  writers. 


52 


3.  Authors  of  the  Gnomic  Literature 

Passages  such  as  Proverbs  24,  23 — "These  also  are  the 
words  of  the  wise  men"  and  in  the  general  introduction  to 
Proverbs — Pro.  1,  6  "The  words  of  the  wise  men  and  their 
dark  sayings;"  Pro.  22,  17 — "Incline  thine  ears  and  hear 
the  words  of  the  wise  men;"  Sira  3,  24 — "A  wise  heart  will 
understand  the  proverbs  of  the  wise  men"  (although  it 
would  not  be  conclusive,  in  the  absence  of  other  evidence, 
to  deduce  anything  of  this  kind  from  Ben  Sira  because  of 
the  established  fact  that  he  copies  Biblical  phraseology  and 
there  his  words  do  not  carry  the  force  of  an  original  state- 
ment and  wise  men  might  in  Ben  Sira  mean  nothing  more 
than  wise  man)  point  to  the  fact  that  in  the  gnomic  litera- 
ture we  have  to  deal  (besides  with  the  few  names  that  have 
been  handed  down  to  us  in  a  more  or  less,  usually  less, 
recognizable  shape)  with  a  class.*90  The  honor  in  which  the 
wise  men  were  held  as  a  class  is  shown  by  Ben  Sira  38 , 33 ,  where 
after  describing  a  number  of  occupations  and  summing  up 
their  values  to  the  community  he  says,  "Without  these  a 
city  cannot  be  inhabited,"  but"  these  shall  not  be  sought  for 
in  public  counsel,  nor  sit  high  in  the  congregation,  they 
shall  not  sit  in  the  judge's  seat,  nor  understand  the  sentence 
of  judgment,  they  cannot  declare  judgment  and  they  shall 
not  be  found  where  parables  are  spoken."  The  same  high 
praise  is  expressed  in  almost  identical  phrases  and  divisions 
in  Jeremiah  18,  18 — "For  the  law  will  not  be  lost  from  the 
priest,  nor  counsel  from  the  wise,  nor  the  word  from  the 
prophet."  Ezekiel  7,  26  has  the  same  division,  "But 
they  will  seek  vision  from  the  prophet,  and  the  law  shall  be 
lost  from  the  priest  and  counsel  from  the  elders."  It  is  to 

53 


be  noted  that  for  the  "hachamim"  of  Jeremiah  we  find  the 
"Zekenim"  in  Ezekiel.  Such  a  parallel  with  a  difference  is 
full  of  significance.  The  "Hacham"  is  placed  in  some 
relationship  with  the  judge  and  the  lawg;ver.  This  relation- 
ship while  in  Comparative  Semitics  is  recognized  at  the 
roots,  is  usually  overlooked  later  on.  This  has  led  to 
difficulties  when  they  might  have  been  easily  avoided. 
Deuteronomy  16,  19  is  a  case  in  point.  D'o:n  >3»j?v,jp  intwi  >s 
D'p'ix  nn  r.fen  .  The  Hacham  in  this  case  is  surely  none 
else  than  the  judge,  pn*  is  to  be  taken  in  the  same  sense. 
1 1  does  not  deal  with  the  person  to  be  j  udged .  This  interpre- 
tation of  pns  as  the  "just"  as  indeed  it  is  usually  interpreted 
does  not  harmonize  with  the  general  intent  of  the  passage, 
which  aims  at  insuring  justice  by  preserving  the  incorrupti- 
bility of  the  judges.  It  therefore  describes  the  effect  of  bribery 
upon  the  judges.  Therefore  the  pnx  or  the  nrn  is  the  righteous 
judge.  What  he  gives  is  variously  indicated  as  nnsn  or  EBB*?. 
See  Ps.  37,  30  ustra  inn  ii-iv^i  na:n  irsrp  pm  'a  Proverbs 
21,  15  can  be  interpreted  only  in  this  way.  Toy*91  makes  it 
mean — "The  execution  of  justice  is  a  joy  to  the  righteous, 
but  the  destruction  to  the  evil  man."  But  bribery  was  the 
'-nmediately  preceding  thought.  It  ought  to  be  understood 
as — "It  is  a  joy  to  the  righteous  to  do  justice  and  to  bring 
destruction  upon  those  who  work  evil."  Jeremiah  has  the 
sense  of  the  administration  of  justice  involved — "Behold 
days  are  coming,  saith  the  Lord,  and  I  shall  raise  unto 
David  a  righteous  sprout,  he  shall  reign,  and  he  shall 
prosper,  he  will  do  justice  and  righteousness  in  the  land," 
Jer.  23,  5.  That  pm  is  used  in  the  legal  sense  is  of  course 
nothing  new  but  then  it  is  by  the  commentators  limited  to 
the  litigants — as  in  1  Kings  8,  32  "Thou  in  heaven  wilt 
hear  and  thou  wilt  do  judgment,  and  thou  wilt  judge  thy 
servant  to  condemn  the  guilty  and  to  put  the  evil  of  his 
way  upon  his  head  and  to  acquit  the  innocent  (pnx  pn*r6i 
is  the  Hebrew)  and  give  him  according  to  his  righteousness." 

54 


But  in  a  passage  as  Zephaniah  3,  5,  it  is  hard  to  maintain 
the  passive  meaning  of  "the  right."  Nowack*92  misses  the 
force  of  the  passage  when  he  renders  it  "Jahve  ist  gerecht 
in  ihrer  Mitte."  I  propose  the  rendering  in  line  with  the 
argument  above — ''The  Lord  is  judge  in  her  midst,  he  will 
not  do  iniquity,  morning  after  morning  doth  he  bring  his 
justice  to  the  light  of  day."  Further,  in  Zephaniah  3,  3-4 
we  have  the  divisions  of  three  classes  as  we  had  them  in 
Ezekiel  and  Jeremiah,  but  in  the  place  of  the  n'oan  of  the 
one  and  D'JpT  of  the  other  Zephaniah  has  a  substitution  full 
of  significance,  of  the  BIBDB>.  Proverbs  29,  2  should  be  con- 
sidered in  this  connection,  ^twsai  ,oyn  rmv  D'pnx  mnia 
BJ?  ru»o  yan  The  LXX  reading*83  here  is  a  divergent  one. 
In  the  first  place  it  must  have  had  the  plural  instead  of  the 
singular  Ha'am.  That  however,  is  inconsequential.  The 
rendering  of  the  first  two  words  is  according  to  them  "when 
the  righteous  are  praised."  But  that  destroys  the  parallel- 
ism. Toy*94  emends  into  "birdoth"  when  the  righteous 
rule.  But  the  integrity  of  the  reading  "birvoth"  is  main- 
tained by  the  reading  in  Pro.  29,  16  Biyen  mm  and  by  the 
use  of  the  root  in  the  sense  of  "govern"  in  Proverbs  28,  28. 
The  verse  ought  to  be  rendered  as  follows:  "When  righteous 
judges  rule,  the  people  rejoice,  but  when  the  wicked  judge 
rules,  the  people  sigh."  That  pen  is  used  in  this  sense  of 
wicked  judge,  a  judge  amenable  to  bribe  taking,  is  clear 
from  the  passage  in  Proverbs  17,  23  which  verifies  at  the 
same  time  the  use  of  pnx  as  judge  of  course  with  the  implica- 
tion a  righteous  judge —  "The  wicked  judge  will  take  a 
bribe  from  the  bosom  to  pervert  the  ways  of  justice" 
BSB>O  mmK  mtsn1?  np'  y«n  pnn  intr.  So,  to  return  to  Exodus 
23,  8  and  Deuteronomy  16,  19,  we  have  in  both  members  of 
the  verse  a  legal  terminology  involved,  but  completely 
concerned  with  the  judge  and  not  with  the  litigants.  The 
nnn  and  the  pns  are  thus  to  be  taken  in  the  sense  of  "judge." 
Besides,  the  use  of  BSH  in  this  sense  is  warranted  by  Jeremiah 

55 


50,  35 — "A  sword  over  the  Chaldeans  saith  the  Lord,  and 
to  the  inhabitants  of  Babylon,  to  its  rulers  and  to  its  '  wise '." 
In  Jeremiah  51,  57  the  hacham  is  placed  in  a  long  list  of  the 
officers,  rulers  and  governors.  The  judge  idea  is  present  in 
the  Arabic,  but  finds  only  these  few  traces  in  the  Hebrew. 
Later  Hebrew  of  course  makes  use  of  the  word  to  mark  the 
learned  man,  learned  in  the  law,  and  thus  through  the 
identification  of  the  Torah  with  Hochmah,  the  original 
meaning  of  hacham  is  restored.  Following  this  suggestion, 
hochmah  is  first  of  all  the  utterance  of  a  judge,  a  judgment 
in  other  words.  Gradually  it  came  to  be  used  in  the  wider 
sense  exactly  as  it  has  been  developed  in  English  where 
judgment  indicates  besides  the  judicial  notion,  a  clean, 
clear  cut  statement  on  the  issues  of  life  made  by  a  man  of 
experience  and  wisdom.  The  parallelism  that  existed  be- 
tween the  Hacahmim  and  the  zekenim  (compare  the  pas- 
sages above  quoted,  and  then  with  the  shofetim)  implies 
the  same  history.  They  were,  therefore,  the  men  who  were 
taught  by  experience,  and  because  of  this  knowledge  gained 
in  the  school  of  life,  they  gained  authority  among  the 
people.  Taught  by  life,  they  gave  their  wisdom  to  others  who 
would  live  wisely.  This  is  the  attitude  throughout  in 
Proverbs.  It  is  the  kindly  guiding  hand  of  the  old  leading 
the  young,  holding  them  as  a  father  would  his  son,  address- 
ing them  as  such,  warning  them  of  the  pitfalls,  dangers  and 
temptations.  That  is  the  attitude  seen  also  in  the  gnomic 
Psalms  (32,  8-9;  34;  94,  8  and  elsewhere).  If  the  priest 
taught  from  ceremonial  law,  and  the  prophet  from  the 
direct  preachment  of  his  "Word"  or  "Burden"  or  "Vision," 
the  wise  man  was  satisfied  to  preach  from  his  own  homely 
experience.  See  for  this  Proverbs  24,  30-34  and  Job  5,  2ff. 
His  philosophy  was  practical  philosophy.  His  school  was 
life.  His  reward  was  a  certain  practical  success  in  life's 
endeavors.  "Do  not  forsake  the  talk  of  the  wise  men  and 
in  their  sayings  spread  thyself,  for  from  them  wilt  thou  gain 

56 


instruction  to  stand  before  rulers"  advises  Ben  Sira  8,  8-9. 
"Do  not  disdain  to  hear  from  the  elders  that  which  they 
heard  from  their  fathers,  for  from  them  wilt  thou  gain  the 
understanding  to  make  the  proper  answer  when  it  is  needed." 
It  is  conceivable  that  the  wise  man  should  have  been  able  to 
reach  some  of  the  people  whom  the  others,  priest  and 
prophet,  could  not  reach.  That  the  method  of  the  wise  man, 
frequently  with  the  personal  element  strongly  expressed, 
was  a  popular  one  is  shown  by  the  fact  of  the  imitation  of  his 
style  by  the  Psalmist  Ps.  37.  That  the  wise  men  were  not 
opposed  to  the  prophet  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say.  The 
Genizah  fragments  have  this  verse*95  »s  D'K'aj  3^3  C'jna  tf 
D»rinn  D'xinj  mim-  The  Talmud  is  even  more  generous 
in  its  praise  of  the  wise  men.  See  Talmud  Babli  Baba 
Bathra  12a.*96  What  the  prophets  thought  of  the  wise  men 
has  been  shown  above.  The  wise  men  are  equally  generous 
in  their  praise  of  Prophecy.  "When  there  is  no  vision,  then 
do  the  people  become  unruly  " — Proverbs  29,  18.  This  much 
is  certain,  Sira  studied  his  prophets  assiduously,  and  even 
if  he  had  not  said  it,  his  language  would  have  betrayed  it. 
The  other  class,  the  priestly  class,  inasfar  as  it  was  the 
representative  of  the  sacrificial  system,  was  outside  the 
ken  of  the  wise  men.  Still  the  wise  men  did  not  condemn 
sacrifice.  The  most  that  they  would  say  is  that  obedience 
is  better  than  sacrifice.  Proverbs  21,  3 — "The  doing  of 
justice  is  preferrable  to  sacrifice."  The  other  passages 
quoted  by  Cheyne*97  Proverbs  15,  8;  21,  27;  16,  6  cannot 
be  made  to  state  even  this  comparison  between  righteousness 
and  sacrifice.  All  they  state  is  that  sacrifices  cannot  be 
used  to  cover  up  iniquity.  This  attitude  was  not  peculiar, 
however  to  the  gnomic  school.  We  find  similar  statements 
in  the  prophets — Hosea  6,  6;  Micah  6,  7-8;  Amos  5,  24; 
and  1  Sam  15,  22.  The  enthusiastic  love  of  the  priest  that 
Ben  Sira  has  is  well  brought  out  in  his  section  on  the  "Praise 
of  the  Fathers"  when  he  speaks  of  the  ceremonial  system 

57 


and  the  sacrifices.  See  also  Ben  Sira  7,  29-31 — -ms  -p1?  ^22 
aityn  K^  vnntws  rwi  ltnp  mn«  TUKO  "?=a  tmpn  Tins  nxi  ^K 
nnm  ityio  Dp'bn  ]ni  ins  inm  *>*<  iss.  This  position  is  in 
harmony  with  the  prophetic  school  and  would  only  dis- 
agree with  a  distorted  and  mercenary  priestly  system.  Other 
complaints  can  be  brought  against  it,  and  the  prophets 
and  the  gnomic  writers  are  not  silent  on  this,  but  it  is  not 
necessary  that  the  priestly  system,  was  iniquitous  per  se. 
At  time  such  an  iniquitous  state  of  affairs  did  exist  among 
some  of  the  priests,  the  priesthood  was  bought  and  sold, 
but  then  it  was  due  to  wrong  doing  on  the  part  of  the 
individual.  The  wise  men  would  not  lay  the  blame  upon 
the  priestly  idea. 

That  the  historical  backgound  to  the  proverbial  litera- 
ture is  to  be  enlarged  was  clear  from  the  passages  in  Amos, 
where  the  deduction  was  made  that  we  must  assume  a 
finished  form  of  the  proverb  including  the  technique  of  the 
number  proverb  before  the  time  of  the  earliest  of  the  literary 
prophets,  or  else  the  form  of  Amos  could  not  be  understood. 
This  was  made  even  clearer  by  the  fact  that  in  Hosea  and 
Amos  we  have  the  remnants  of  Proverbs.  Hosea  quotes 
what  seems  to  be  the  second  half  of  a  proverb.*98  The 
historical  background  must  be  enlarged  in  one  more  particu- 
lar. The  other  classes  with  whom  we  had  to  deal  and  with 
whom  the  wise  men  are  frequently  mentioned  had  their 
false  counterparts.  There  were  the  prophets  of  the  Lord, 
the  true  prophets,  and  there  were  the  prophets  of  falsehood. 
There  were  the  priests  of  the  Lord  and  there  were  the  priests 
of  the  various  forms  of  worship  antagonistic  to  the  Jahveh 
worship.  See  on  this  particularly  the  extended  attack  on 
the  false  prophets  in  Jeremiah  23.  The  misreading  of  Isaiah 
28,  14  and  of  Proverbs  29,  8  but  more  particularly  of  the 
Isaiah  passage,  is  responsible  for  the  fact  that  a  whole 
series  of  sayings  has  not  been  put  in  proper  light. 
Isaiah  uses  the  term  "Moshele  ha'am"  in  the  text  evidently 

58 


to  indicate  a  counterpart  of  the  "Hacham"  just  as  the 
"  neviai  hasheker  "  are  the  counterparts  of  the  "  neviai  Jahve. 
By  "anshe  lazon"  he  understands  the  phrase  makers. 
There  is  therefore  a  school  of  the  real  wise  men,  with  the 
Mishle  Hachamim  (see  Hebrew  text  of  Ben  Sira  3,  29)  and 
a  school  of  the  false  wise  men.  These  latter  are  the  moshele 
ha'am.  It  is  to  be  assumed  from  the  nature  of  the  case 
that  the  false  wise  men  would  ally  themselves  naturally 
with  the  false  priests  and  the  false  prophets ;  they  are  there- 
fore mentioned  in  conjunction  with  them  by  Isaiah.  It  is 
natural  too,  that  in  the  victory  of  the  prophetic  school,  all 
literature  antagonistic  to  that  school  should  have  been 
suppressed.  Whatever  of  the  literature  of  these  moshele 
ha'am  remains,  exists  only  in  fragments.  They  are  found 
only  when  quoted  by  the  prophets  and  by  them  combatted. 
But  the  fragments  are  numerous  enough  to  make  it  worth 
while  to  collect  them.  Koheleth  can  be  looked  on  as  the  larg- 
est fragment  of  the  Moshele  ha'am  school  to  which  a  hacham 
unable  to  give  longer  answer  simply  added  the  ending — 
"as  long  as  all  is  in  doubt,  the  best  thing  is  to  come  back  to 
the  fear  of  the  Lord.  This  is  the  end  of  all  things."  It  is 
on  this  theory  that  we  can  explain  the  later  fortunes  of  the 
book.  It  was  not  granted  ready  admission  into  the  canon. 
Unconsciously  there  lingered  in  many  minds  some  reminis- 
cence as  to  its  heretical  origin.  For  this  reason  while  its 
conclusion,  the  work  of  a  hacham  was  satisfactory  and 
actually  procured  its  admission  into  the  canon,  the  book 
was  felt  to  be  out  of  alignment  with  the  rest  of  the  litera- 
ture. The  sign  of  holiness,  making  the  hands  impure, 
ritually,  was  not  given  to  it  without  discussion.*99  During 
the  same  period  of  questioning  and  examination  for  admis- 
sion into  the  canon,  two  other  books — Ben  Laana  and  Ben 
Tagla  were  kept  out.*100 

Furthermore,  this  contention  against  the  uniform  and 
arbitrary  rendering  of  "anshe  la?on"  by  "men  of  scorn" 

59 


will  be  supported  by  the  examination  of  the  passages  in 
which  words  of  this  root  accur.  This  examination,  moreover, 
will  place  lez  in  the  proper  light  as  well.  It  begins  with  the 
sense  of  making  phrases,  that  is  in  the  good  sense,  then  as 
frequently  happens  (just  as  rhetorician  was  used  in  the  good 
and  bad  sense  and  as  sophist  was  a  term  of  blame  only  later) 
the  lez  becomes  the  adherent  of  the  popular  philosophy,  the 
theologian  and  the  unwise  wise  man.  From  that  he  easily 
passes  over  into  the  company  of  the  wicked.  That  we  have 
the  intermediate  step,  the  popular  phrase  maker,  rather 
than  scoffer  and  scorner,  has  been  overlooked. 

Lazon  itself  occurs  three  times.  Pro.  1,  22 — "  How  long, 
ye  simpletons,  will  ye  love  folly  and  ye  lezim  love  lazon  and 
ye  fools  hate  wisdom."  It  is  hard  not  to  see  that  the  lez 
and  his  love,  lazon,  found  in  the  company  of  the  simpleton 
and  the  fool  is  the  man  who  has  a  perverted  hochmah. 
Therefore  is  he  the  one  frequently  addressed  by  Hochmah 
Proverbs  29,  8  "Men  of  false  wisdom  overturn  a  city,  but 
the  wise  men  turn  away  wrath"  has  the  opposition  again 
between  the  false  popular  wisdom  and  the  real  wisdom 
strongly  expressed.  In  the  passage  in  Isaiah  28,  14  the 
same  opposition  is  expressed.  The  prophet  had  spoken. 
From  his  answer  to  the  anshe  lazon  it  is  to  be  judged  that 
his  prophecy  was  cast  into  short  phrases  which  the  popular 
phrase  makers  took  up.  They  therefore  speak  of  "zav 
lazav  and  kav  lakav."  To  this  they  added  their  own  phrase 
about  their  security.  On  this  Isaiah  tells  them  to  stop  this 
phrase  making.  This  is  the  interpretation  to  be  put  on 
"Al  titlozazu."  It  does  not  mean  "do  not  scorn."  It  is 
almost  technical  in  force.  "Do  not  continue  making  phrases 
as  you  have  been  doing  about  your  security,  etc.  Make 
no  more  of  your  proverbs,  but  hear  the  real  teaching." 
He  ends  the  chapter  then  with  a  gnomic  passage  which  in 
this  interpretation  becomes  an  integral  part  of  the  prophecy. 
The  style  of  the  section  28,  23-29  is  of  course  different  from 

60 


the  rest  of  the  chapter.  It  cannot  help  but  be  different. 
It  is  intentionally  put  into  the  Hochma  style  to  teach  the 
Anshe  lazon  the  folly  of  their  wisdom.  So  far  lazon  has  not 
been  found  in  the  sense  of  scorn.  That  rendering  gives  a 
faulty  and  inadequate  understanding  of  the  case  in  all  three 
passages. 

The  verb  is  used  in  a  good  sense  in  many  of  the  passages. 
So  Meliz  is  an  interpreter — a  neutral  sense,  at  least,  in 
2Ch  32,  31 ;  Isaiah  43,  27;  Genesis  42,  43.  The  use  in  Job 
33,  23  is  a  decidedly  good  use  of  the  word.  In  Proverbs 
9,  12  in  a  rather  connected  extract,  for  wisdom  is  there 
represented  as  addressing  her  audience,  we  have  narn  DK 
NB>D  Tab  nx^i  -ft  naan  Frankenberg*101  renders — "Wenn  du 
weise  bist,  bist  du's  dir  zu  Nutze,  and  wenn  du  ein  Spot- 
ter bist,  hast  du's  allein  zu  tragen."  Toy*108  has — "If 
thou  art  wise  thou  art  wise  for  thyself,  and  if  thou  art  a 
scoffer  thou  alone  must  bear  the  consequences."  Wilde- 
boer*1  3  translates — "Bist  du  ein  Spotter."  Now  the  con- 
text must  be  taken  into  consideration  in  this  passage.  We 
have  here  a  picture  in  two  sections.  Wisdom  personified 
speaks,  and  tries  to  influence  her  hearers.  Folly,  too,  is  per- 
sonified. In  verse  12  (whether  7-12  belongs  originally  to 
Hochmah  and  is  a  part  of  her  address  or  was  later  slipped  in 
or  a  transition  is  immaterial  to  the  argument*104)  we  have  the 
statement  on  the  part  of  wisdom  or  on  the  part  of  the 
interpolator,  that  the  choice  must  be  made  and  the  con- 
sequences, good  or  bad,  come  naturally.  But  the  choice 
lies  between  wisdom  and  lazon.  There  is  here  exactly  the 
same  opposition  that  there  was  in  Isaiah  28,  14ff.  The 
other  passages  in  which  the  verb  is  used  can  be  allowed  to 
stand  as  "scorn"  passages.  These  are  Proverbs  14,  9; 
19,  28;  3,  34;  Ps.  119,  51;  Hosea  7,  5;  the  verse  in  Job 
16,  20  is  doubtful  but  it  is  most  likely  used  in  a  bad  sense  of 
the  word — "My  friends  have  misunderstood  (misinterpreted) 
me"  therefore  Job  turns  to  God. 

61 


The  word  lez  is  found  in  the  company  of  the  kesil  and 
the  pethi  as  already  noted  in  Proverbs  1,  22.  The  same 
companionship  is  given  him  in  Pro.  19,  25  as  also  in  21,  11. 
In  these  proverbs  the  lez  is  the  man  who  has  turned  from 
the  real  wisdom  of  the  wise  and  has  found  something  else 
for  himself,  which  he,  indeed,  calls  and  thinks  wisdom,  but 
which  will  speedily  prove  itself  unreliable  and  worthless. 
Therefore  the  special  invitation  comes  to  him  to  come  and 
learn  the  real  wisdom  Pro.  1,  22.  Isaiah  has  an  important 
passage,  important  for  the  understanding  of  the  real  posi- 
tion and  character  of  the  lez.  Beginning  at  chapter  29, 
verse  9  and  interpreting  in  accordance  with  the  interpreta- 
tion that  we  have  given  28,  14,  we  have  the  picture  of  the 
delusion  of  the  people.  The  prophet  calls  them  drunk  but 
not  with  wine.  They  have  been  misguided.  The  day  will 
come  when  the  wisdom  of  the  wise  men  will  be  brought  to 
naught.  Then  will  true  wisdom  come  to  its  own.  Ariz 
(29,  20)  is  here  used  not  in  the  sense  of  the  tyrant  but  in 
the  sense  in  which  we  find  it  in  the  gnomic  literature  as  a 
parallel  to  the  wicked  man.  See  Job  15,  20;  27,  13.  The 
wise  men  are  blamed  for  their  utterances  and  upon  examina- 
tion these  are  seen  to  be  of  the  same  character  as  those 
attributed  to  the  Moshele  ha'am  and  the  anshe  lazon  in 
Isaiah  28,  14.  The  lez  is  in  Isaiah  29,  20  the  singular  of 
anshe  lazon.  In  this  interpretation  the  im  DTK  'K'tsno  so 
vexing  to  the  commentators*105  becomes  clear.  They  have 
misled  the  people  by  their  sayings. 

Yayin  personified  as  a  teacher  and  called  a  lez  is  another 
such  proof.  The  fantasies  of  the  drunk  bear  the  same 
relationship  to  the  calm  reasoning  of  the  sober,  as  this  false 
wisdom  bears  to  the  real  wisdom.  Other  passages  can  be 
allowed  to  stand  as  they  are.  They  are  entered  here  for 
the  sake  of  completeness— Pro.  22,  10;  21,  24;  19,  29;  3, 
34;  9,  7;  13,  1;  15,  12;  14,  6. 

Melizah  is  in  both  of  the  cases  where  it  occurs  used  in  the 
technical  meaning.  In  Proverbs  1,  6  it  is  used  as  something 

62 


well  classed  with  wisdom,  the  mashal,  the  hidah,  etc.  The 
LXX  it  is  true  -enders  it  by  "skoteinon  logon"  (edition 
Swete)  but  that  is  hardly  correct.  The  rendering  is  caused 
by  the  propinquity  of  -nelizah  to  hidoth  in  the  text.  In 
Habakuk  2,  6  it  is  used  for  a  taunting  speech,  exactly 
as  mashal  was  used.  Now  it  is  hard  to  assume  such  a 
technical  meaning  in  one  part  of  the  root,  in  melizah  and 
then  not  find  it  in  other  words  of  the  same  root.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  by  our  assumption,  we  have  found  in  all  of  the  words 
of  the  root  the  same  technical  indication.  When  used 
technically  it  is  in  the  sense  of  the  false  wisdom,  the  empty 
phrase  maker,  the  opponent  of  the  wise  man,  the  popular 
theology  as  against  the  real  religious  doctrine.  That  opens 
up  a  whole  field  of  possibilities  but  unfortunately,  the 
literature  owing  to  its  very  nature  it  was  doomed,  in  the 
ascendency  of  the  prophetic  school,  to  destruction,  and  such 
indications  i  >  are  found,  are  found  in  hints  and  in  fragments. 

It  is  fortunate,  therefore,  that  a  number  of  the  prophets 
make  it  their  practice  to  sum  up  for  contradiction,  or  for 
the  same  purpose  actually  give,  the  saying  of  the  popular 
phrase  makers.  Introduced  by  onoiKn  or  non  or  by  some 
other  such  indication,  we  have  a  short  chapter  of  the  say- 
ings of  the  false  wise  men.  Such  quotations  from  the  hereti- 
cal literature  of  the  day,  or  if  that  is  too  strong,  from  the 
heretics  of  the  day  are  as  follows: 

First  of  all  would  be  the  phrase  quoted  both  by  Ezekiel  and 
Jeremiah — "The  fathers  have  eaten  sour  grapes  and  the 
teeth  of  the  children  stand  on  edge."  That,  it  seems,  was 
a  stock  phrase  of  the  heretical  wise  men.  The  force  of  this 
proverb  acted  both  ways.  That  the  other  side  of  the  proverb 
was  not  quoted  here  is  supplied  by  the  long  argument  that 
Ezekiel  feels  called  upon  to  make  proving  or  at  least  con- 
tending that  the  children  of  the  righteous  cannot  live  by 
the  righteousness  of  the  parents.  When  put  objectively 
this  will  remind  of  the  principal  theory  that  the  prophets  had 

63 


to  combat.  The  temple  is  there.  God  must  be  with  his 
people  therefore.  No  danger  can  as  a  consequence  do  more 
than  threaten.  That  is  one  of  the  onoiKn  in  Amos  9,  10 — 
"By  the  sword  shall  die  all  those  sinners  of  my  people  who 
say  'the  evil  cannot  approach  and  come  to  us'."  If  Ezekiel 
11,  3  is  interpreted  to  mean  that  the  people  said  they  were 
safe,  even  as  the  pot  protects  the  flesh  in  it  from  the  flames 
then  we  have  another  passage  of  similar  intent  there.  So 
also  Micah  3,  11 — "Its  chiefs  judge  for  a  bribe,  its  priests 
teach  for  a  price,  and  her  prophets  divine  for  silver,  and  still 
they  lean  on  God  and  say  'Is  not  God  in  our  midst,  evil 
cannot  come  to  us'."  On  this  thought  the  classic  example 
is  Jeremiah  7,  4.  mrp  ^m  •norrt  iptrn  nn  ^K  02*?  intsnn  ^K 
TOPI  mrp  ^2'n  mn>  ^r»n.  Giesebrecht*106  takes  the  nan  in 
the  plural  because  the  writer  cannot  help  but  think  of 
mn'  nustwa  in  the  plural.  But  it  looks  as  if  the  nan 
should  be  construed  with  a  "sheker"  left  out  because  of 
the  "sheker"  earlier  in  the  sentence.  The  omission  is  of 
course  older  than  the  LXX.  Jeremiah  says  "Temple  of  the 
Lord,  Temple  of  the  Lord,  Temple  of  the  Lord" — "They 
(the  prophets)  are  false."*10  Giesebrecht's  interpretation 
would  be  a  clumsy  way  of  saying  the  temple  stands.  In  the 
Moshele  Ha'am  verse  Isaiah  28,  14  we  have  an  amplified 
form  of  the  popular  mashal.  It  is  here  to  be  supposed  that 
Isaiah  continues  their  saying  and  carries  it  out  to  an 
absurdity.  "Ye  have  said  'we  have  made  a  covenant  with 
death  and  with  Sheol  have  we  made  an  agreement.  The 
storm,  when  it  passes  shall  not  come  to  us,  for  (and  this  is 
the  prophet's  addition)  we  have  made  lying  our  refuge  and 
in  falsehood  shall  we  find  shelter'."  Ezekiel  12,  22  has 
another  quotation  from  the  heretical  literature — "The  days 
are  passing  and  the  prophecy  is  failing,"  given  by  Ezekiel 
because  he  answers  it  in  the  counter  proverb.  Another  such 
remnant  is  found  in  Isaiah  9,  9 — "Bricks  fall,  we  shall 
build  of  hewn  stone,  sycamore  trees  are  cut  down,  we 

64 


shall  put  cedars  in  their  place."  Haggai  1,  2 — "The  people 
have  said  'The  time  has  not  come — the  time  for  the  temple 
of  the  Lord  to  be  rebuilt."  The  LXX*108  leaves  out  the 
first  "time."  That  makes  smoother  reading,  but  is  hardly 
necessary.  The  necessity  of  answering  popular  proverbs 
influences  Malachi  to  such  an  extent,  that  it  becomes  a 
characteristic  of  his  style.  (1,2;  1,7;  1,12;  3,7;  3,8;  3, 
13-14.) 

It  still  remains  to  be  said  that  women  took  part  in  the 
development  of  the  gnomic  literature.  From  one  of  the 
authorities  in  Proverbs  we  have  the  direct  statement  that 
his  mother  taught  him  what  he  was  about  to  utter  (31,  1). 
The  phrase  IOK  imo'  itrK  means  more  than  the  ordinary 
statement  "the  instruction  of  the  mother"  which  in  such 
case  means  the  instruction  in  the  art  of  living  and  not  in 
the  art  of  writing  proverbs,  which  here,  however,  it  undoubt- 
edly means.  That  women  practiced  the  composition  of 
parables  and  the  like,  we  know  from  2  Sam  20,  18;  14,  6-7. 

At  the  head  of  the  whole  school,  not  however  in  time, 
stands  Solomon.  Psalmody  looks  back  in  similar  fashion 
to  David.  This  was  merely  a  matter  of  accepted  tradition. 
By  the  same  authority  of  tradition  eschatology  groups 
itself  around  Enoch.  While  Ben  Sira  is  explicit  in  his  praise 
of  Solomon  (47,  17)  mj?Dn  D'OJ?  nx'^oi  mn  hva  VBO  the 
Midrash  seeks  to  establish  a  parallel  between  Solomon  and 
David.*10  "David  composed  proverbs,  so  did  Solomon." 
To  reward  Solomon  for  the  loss  of  his  title  to  sole  proverb 
writer  the  Midrash  as  does  the  Bible  makes  him  as  well 
as  David,  a  writer  of  Psalms.  The  passage  in  the  Bible 
concerning  the  Solomonic  authorship  of  proverbs,  reads  as 
follows  (1  Kings  5,  12ff)  "And  he  spoke  three  thousand 
proverbs  concerning  the  trees  from  the  cedar  that  is  in  the 
Lebanon  even  the  hyssop  that  springeth  up  out  of  the  wall. 
He  spoke  concerning  the  beasts  and  concerning  the  creeping 
things  and  concerning  the  fishes."  It  is  fair  to  assume  that 

65 


even  in  the  mind  of  the  recorder  of  this  tradition,  the 
proverbs,  here  referred  to,  if  indeed  a  reference  is  made  to 
Proverbs,  were  spoken  and  not  written  down.  How  this 
kind  of  a  tradition  could  be  amplified  is  readily  seen  from 
the  Haggadic  legend  that  Solomon  spoke  xo*122  all  the 
creatures  and  not  OF.  This  form  of  the  tradition  passed 
over  into  other  literatures.*110  The  text  of  1  Kings  above 
quoted  however,  does  not  give  more  than  a  vague  statement 
of  Solomon's  wisdom  and  cannot  be  made  to  cover  the  Book 
of  Proverbs,  even  by  the  most  liberal  interpretation.  The 
21  TK  hyssop  is  not  even  mentioned  in  the  Book  of  Proverbs. 
Neither,  strange  to  say,  is  the  m  cedar.  The  others  in 
this  list  of  the  extent  of  Solomon's  reach  are  less  definite 
but  the  words  n  and  twai  do  not  occur  in  the  book.  It 
cannot  be  assumed  therefore  that  the  man  was  giving  a 
brief  summary  of  the  book,  when  he  mentions  things  that 
do  not  occur  there  at  all.  With  direct  reference  to  the  Book 
of  Proverbs  eliminated,  what  can  the  passage  mean? 
Nothing  more  than  a  rather  extended  acquaintance  with 
trees,  the  habits  of  animals  and  the  like  and  the  knowledge 
was  as  far  as  we  know  only  spoken  and  never  written 
down.*111 

By  its  own  records,  Proverbs  has  different  layers.  There 
is  the  collection  of  the  sayings  of  Solomon  made  in  the  time 
of  Hezekiah.  Besides  this  we  know  from  its  own  confession 
other  compositions  not  of  Solomonic  authorship  were  added 
to  the  collection.  Chapter  24,  33  we  read  D'orn1?  n1?*  DJ 
"These  also  are  the  sayings  of  the  wise  men."  The  "also" 
points  back  to  22,  17-24,  a  section  characterized  by  the 
direct  address  from  the  speaker  to  the  listener.  Then  we 
have  by  the  same  testimony,  Chapters  30  and  31  writings 
of  Agur  the  son  of  Yakeh  and  Lemuel  respectively.  How 
far  the  authorship  of  Chapter  30  is  to  be  attributed  to  one 
author  is  not  clear.  It  is  possible  that  the  number  section 
is  a  distinct  section.  Both  of  the  names  are  in  the  Haggadic 

66 


Literature  taken  as  disguises  for  Solomon  himself.  This  is 
in  line  with  the  tradition  of  assigning  all  of  the  literature 
of  proverbial  character  to  Solomon.  The  same  is  done  in 
the  case  of  Koheleth,  though  there  the  reference  to  the  fact 
that  the  author  speaks  of  himself  as  being  king  in  Jerusalem 
led  to  the  identification.  The  interpretations  of  the  Hag- 
gadah,  however,  were  in  all  these  cases,  for  homiletic  pur- 
poses.*112 Modern  guesses  have  not  gone  beyond  the 
conjectural  stage.  There  is  not  enough  material  for  decision 
in  any  case  and  Agur  and  Lemuel  remain  unsolved  and 
unidentified. 

Of  the  other  book  in  the  proverbial  literature,  we  have 
a  continuous  biography.  Written  in  Hebrew,  by  Simon 
the  son  of  Jesus,  son  of  Eliezer,  son  of  Sira  (so  the  name  is 
given  in  the  Hebrew  text  50.27a  and  in  51,  30  (3)  although 
51,  30  (2)  has  Simon  the  son  of  Jesus  called  Ben  Sira.  In 
like  form  is  the  name  given  in  Saadia's  Sefer  Hagalui, 
ed.  Harkawy  p.  150,  line  10-11,  but  simply  Ben  Sira  p.  162, 
line  7,  and  Bar  Sira  162,  line  18  and  page  176,  line  16  in  both 
of  which  cases  Harkawy  makes  the  note  that  without  doubt 
this  is  a  mistake  of  the  scribe  for  Jesus  the  son  of  Sira)  it 
was  translated  into  Greek  by  his  grandson  who  came  to 
Egypt  in  the  39th  year  of  the  reign  of  Euergetes,  and  since 
only  the  second  of  that  name  reigned  that  long  (170-116 
B.  C.)  he  must  have  come  to  Egypt  in  132  B.  C.  This  date 
helps  us  moreover  to  identify  the  Simon  of  whom  Ben  Sira 
speaks  so  enthusiastically,  in  his  praise  of  the  Fathers. 
There  were  two  of  that  name  but  it  can  only  be  the  second 
to  whom  Ben  Sira  refers.  Ben  Sira  flourished  therefore 
about  190-170.  The  Hebrew  text  was  in  time  lost,  though 
snatches  of  it  are  preserved  in  current  literature,  in  the 
Talmud.*113  Saadia  (Sefer  Hagalui,  edition  Harkawy) 
has  seven  quotations  and  an  eighth  one  which  he  wrongly 
ascribes  to  another,  an  otherwise  unknown  author,  Eliezer 
be  Irai,  the  author  of  a  book  which  he  describes  as  being 

67 


similar  to  the  Book  of  Ecclesiastes  nfe"  ^SD^  nonn  noon  ico 
What  the  style  of  the  book  was,  is  in  one  particular  given  us. 
Saadia  says  it  was  provided  with  the  marks  and  the  char- 
acters of  the  Biblical  books.  It  must  have  been  another 
one  of  the  gnomic  literature  modelled  closely  upon  Biblical 
models.  The  few  quotations  of  the  book  verify  this.  In 
1896  the  first  fragment  of  the  Hebrew  text  of  Ben  Sira  was 
identified  and  through  additions  from  various  sources  a 
goodly  portion  of  the  Hebrew  text  of  Ben  Sira  has  been 
brought  to  the  light  of  day. 

Sira  comes  closer  to  his  hearers,  or  better  to  his  readers, 
than  any  of  the  writers  of  the  Bible  or  the  Apocrypha,  with 
the  possible  exception  of  the  sorrowing  Jeremiah.  Sira  was 
born  in  Jerusalem  (Ben  Sira  50,27).  The  accusation  before  the 
king,  5 1,6  (Greek  version*1 l *  J3a<n\el  Sia/SoXi)  y\(j}ffarjs  aSUov 
does  not  materialize  in  the  Hebrew  text.  Thus  the  political 
troubles  are  removed.  He  travelled  in  the  pursuit  of  wisdom 
34,  11.  It  may  be  that  on  such  travels,  he  came  across  men 
of  the  Greek  thought  and  particularly  of  the  Stoic  school. 
It  is  therefore  quite  likely  that  the  verse  referring  to  the 
five  senses  is  genuine.  That  the  Greek  does  not  have  it 
does  not  brand  it  as  spurious.  16,  16  is  also  held  spurious, 
for  a  similar  reason,  but  a  corruption  rco  adanavri,  can 
only  be  understood  if  we  presuppose  an  original  Hebrew 
reading  "livnai  adam"  which  the  translator  misread  very 
ignorantly  as  Avnai  odem — hence  "stones  of  adamant." 
For  another  notice  of  the  five  senses  see  Gnomic  fragments 
of  the  Genizah  (Jewish  Quarterly  Review,  vol.  16,  pp. 
425-442)  page  6,  line  15  ff.  "The  light  of  the  eyes  and  the 
hearing  of  the  ears,  the  smell  of  the  nose  and  feeling  of  the 
hands,  the  tasting  of  the  palate  and  walking  of  the  feet; 
all  of  these  are  given  to  all  the  living  things,  but  above  all 
of  these  is  the  speech  of  the  lips,  that  is  found  only  in 
man."*115  On  his  travels  too  he  seems  to  have  made  the 
acquaintance  of  the  Greek  banquet.  Of  this  he  learned 

68 


to  speak  with  favor  and  he  takes  the  opportunity  to  praise 
it  very  frequently.  Nor  was  he  overanxious  that  the  ban- 
quet should  be  marked  by  heavy  and  pedantic  talk.  In 
friendly  fashion,  he  tells  the  old  man  who  is  to  sit  at  the 
head  of  the  table  to  "be  one  of  the  boys."  Sira  however, 
knew  the  canon  too  well  not  to  emphasize  the  dangers  of 
too  much  wine  (Proverbs  passim,  Hosea  4,  11.  Isaiah  5,  11. 
21.  See  also  gnomic  fragment  of  Genizah  "Wine  enters, 
sense  departs."  Compare  this  with  the  later  proverb  of 
Tanhuma,  Shemini,  "Nichnas  yayin  yasa  sod."  A  quality 
of  Ben  Sira,  which  ought  to  be  noted  is  his  pride  in  his 
people's  history.  He  uses  it  for  illustrative  purposes  more 
than  any  other  writer.  In  this  he  has  placed  himself  in 
debt  to  the  gnomic  Psalmist.  These  showed  him  how  to 
write  history  pragmatically,  a  quality  handed  on  likewise 
to  the  wisdom  of  Solomon.  Ben  Sira  glories  in  the  "Law." 
His  delight  is  in  its  study.  The  highest  praise  is  given  to 
the  scribe  of  the  Law.  These  are  indication  of  the  early 
rise  of  the  Talmudic  spirit — of  the  study  of  the  law  for  the 
sake  of  the  law. 

Here  ought  to  be  added  a  notice  of  two  other  names  that 
are  mentioned  in  close  association  with  the  early  gnomic 
literature — early  in  the  sense  that  they  belong  somewheres 
soon  before  the  completion  of  the  canon.  In  the  discussion 
of  the  "Sefarim  Hizonim,"  the  book  of  Ben  Tagla  and  the 
book  of  Ben  Laana  are  mentioned  in  connection  with  Ben 
Sira.  There  are  no  quotations  extant  from  either  book, 
so  the  contents  are  mere  conjecture.*116 


69 


4.  Sources 

Following  in  the  main  tne  outline  mapped  out  by  Koenig 
(Stilistik,  Rhetorik  Poetik,  Leipzig  1900,  pp.  83-84)  but 
adding  the  material  gained  from  the  study  of  the  fragments, 
the  following  are  the  chief  sources  whence  the  material  of 
the  gnomic  lietrature  is  drawn.  Koenig  traces  some  of  the 
proverbs  to  the  world  of  minerals,  e.  g.  Sira  23,  14-15  "What 
is  heavier  than  lead,  sand  and  salt  and  a  mass  of  iron  is 
harder  to  bear  with  than  a  man  without  understanding." 
Many  of  the  examples  which  he  enters  in  this  class  are  only 
secondarily  appropriate  here.  They  should  be  entered  in  a 
class  by  themselves  under  the  heading  of  the  arts,  coming 
properly  therefore  as  a  subdivision  of  the  section  man,  or 
the  fourth  division  in  his  system.  In  the  class  of  the  inani- 
mate nature,  Koenig  fails  to  count  the  nature  source 
which  is  abundant  in  the  fragments.  Natural  phenomena 
are  frequently  drawn  on  by  the  fragments  in  the  prophets. 
Hosea  6,  4b  "and  your  kindness  is  as  the  cloud  of  the  morn- 
ing and  as  the  dew  which  disappears  in  the  morning." 
Hosea  6,  3  also  draws  on  the  same  source.  Hosea  8,  7 
"They  sow  the  wind  and  reap  a  whirlwind."  Hosea  10,  13 
"Ye  have  plowed  evil,  wickedness  shall  ye  reap."  See  for 
this  also  Ps  7,  15.  Hosea  13,  3  has  as  sources  the  natural 
phenomena  of  cloud,  dew,  chaff  driven  before  the  wind  and 
smoke.  Note  also  in  the  proverb  in  Job  5,  6.  "For  iniquity 
rises  not  from  the  ground  and  from  the  earth  wrong  doth 
not  spring  up."  Job  14,  6-10  not  altogether  wholly  gnomic 
is  near  enough.  It  too  has  the  natural  phenomena  in  mind. 
Job  5,  7  "Sparks  wing  their  way  upward."  Add  also  Jere- 
miah 18,  14. 

70 


Proceeding  to  the  next  class,  that  of  the  vegetable 
world  we  meet  proverbs  found  in  the  books  of  the  Bible 
other  than  the  distinctively  gnomic  books.  The  proverb 
of  the  sour  grapes — Jer.  31,  29.  the  relation  of  the  straw  to 
the  corn  Jer.  23,  28.  the  two  fables,  the  one  of  Judges  9, 
8-15  of  the  vine  and  olive  and  the  fig  and  the  bramble  and 
the  other  parable  in  2  Kings,  14  of  the  thistle  of  Lebanon. 
Besides  the  examples  given  by  Koenig  there  ought  to  be 
added  the  section  in  the  praise  of  wisdom  in  Sira  24,  12-17. 
Job  8,  11,  "Can  the  bulrush  shoot  up  without  the  mire,  can 
the  meadow  grass  grow  up  without  the  water?" 

From  the  animal  kingdom  material  is  drawn  for  the 
following:  Jer  13,  23  "Can  the  Ethiopian  change  his  skin 
or  the  leopard  his  spots?";  the  saying  in  EC.  9,  4  "Better 
is  a  live  dog  than  a  dead  lion."  The  bee  gives  a  proverb  to 
Ben  Sira  11,3  Proverbs  does  not  mention  it  but  where  the 
Hebrew  has  the  ant  the  Greek  readers  had  inserted  for 
them  in  the  Septuagint  after  6,  8  one  on  the  bee.  The  fler 
is  mentioned  in  the  popular  saying  1  Sam  24,  15.  The 
partridge  is  the  source  of  another  1  Sam  26,  20.  Amos  3,  4 
has  the  lion  and  the  young  lion.  Amos  3,  5  has  the  bird 
but  without  close  definition.  Amos  5,  18  has  the  lion,  the 
bear  and  the  snake  Habakuk  1,  14  has  "keremes  lo  moshel 
bo."  Job  6,  5-6  has  the  wild  ass  and  the  ox.  Isaiah  1,  3 
"The  ox  knoweth  his  master  and  the  ass  his  master's  crib' ' 
Jeremiah  8,  7  has  a  list  of  birds — the  stork,  the  turtle  dove, 
and  two  others.  The  gregarious  habits  of  animals  Ben  Sira 
strikes  off  in  13,  15-17  and  in  27,  9  "Birds  of  a  feather  flock 
together.  As  already  indicated,  the  last  is  preserved  in  a 
quotation  in  Bab  Kam.  92b  where  it  is  actually  quoted  as 
being  from  the  Ketubim  (See  Schechter  J .  Q.  R.  Vol  3  p  690) . 
Curious  is  the  combination  which  the  Yalkut  gives  pn^>  no 
•on  nn  (Jer)  (Sira)  ft  nan1?  DTK  pi  pr»»  i^o1?  spy  ^2  where 
we  have  the  combination  of  Jeremiah  and  Sira  introduced 
by  "hakatuv  omer"  a  phrase  limited  to  introduce  Bible 

71 


quotations  (ib.  699).  A  similar  Talmudic  proverb  reads 
13  >o  Kin»  '3»n  K'™  njrn  "?XN  nmrn  ito  o:n^  K1?  "Not  without 
reason  does  the  starling  go  to  the  raven,  they  are  of  a  class  "  or 
in  the  opposite  form  1310  nine*  K'JK  vnt  'JSK  siiy  i*?n  H1?  Ber. 
Rab.  65.  See  also  Tanhuma  Vayera  invio  KI-PIK  '3:6  sip 
and  the  Yalkut  Toledoth  near  end  NDB"»  «^pn  ^TKI  ^"EB 
»3i»n  wp  '33  Further  proverbs  are  furnished  by  the 
eagle,  Ezekiel  17,  3-10  since  the  selection  is  called 
expressly  in  the  text,  a  mashal,  by  the  serpent,  Sira  25,  15 
by  the  scorpion  26,  7  dragon  25,  16  wolf  13,  18  dog  Pro  26, 11 
and  1  Sam  24,  15  ox  Pro  14,  1. 

The  proverbs  drawn  from  the  life  of  man  can  best  be 
handled  as  far  as  the  social  relationships  are  concerned  when 
we  deal  with  the  general  concepts  as  well  as  those  drawn 
from  the  religious  concepts.  The  proverbs  coming  from 
the  arts  and  crafts  can  be  entered  here.  Such  are  Proverbs 
25,  11  "Apples  of  gold  in  figures  of  silver  a  word  spoken  in 
proper  manner"  and  its  parallel  in  Ben  Sira  26,  18  "Golden 
pillars  upon  sockets  of  silver,  fair  feet  with  a  constant  heart." 
So  also  Ben  Sira  2,  5  "For  gold  is  tried  in  the  fire"  and  Pro 
27,  17  " Iron  is  hardened  by  iron"  to  which  might  be  added 
Pro  27,  21  "The  firing  pot  for  silver  and  the  furnace  for 
gold,  a  man  proved  according  to  his  praise  and  its  counter- 
part in  Sira  28,  5  "The  furnace  proves  the  potters  vessel, 
the  trial  of  a  man  is  his  discourse."  Sira  32,  6  "a  seal  ring 
of  carbuncle  set  in  gold"  also  Proverbs  26,  24  "Like  silver 
dross  laid  over  an  earthen  vessel."  These  are,  wherever 
given,  by  Koenig,  entered  in  the  mineral  class.  But  the 
writer  is  not  interested  so  much  in  the  mineral  part  of  it  as 
he  is  in  the  art  side.  Therefore  they  are  entered  here  in  the 
fourth  division. 


72 


5.  Concepts 

Beginning  with  the  Concept  of  God,  we  find  that  Sira 
and  Proverbs  agree  in  the  main  points.  In  Chap  42,  15 
Ben  Sira  gives  the  praise  of  the  Creator.  We  have  here 
emphasized  the  unity  of  God — "From  everlasting  is  he  one." 
He  lives  and  endures  forever  23,9.  "Through  His  word  of 
command  all  things  were  formed,"  reading  in  42,  15c  with 
the  text  and  the  marginal  reading  nxu  TB»J?D  DTI'JN  ID  INS 
compare  with  this  Ps  33,  6  ivys  n'na>  'n  ina  This  form  of 
the  thought  is  quite  frequent  in  Hebrew  Literature.  The 
Baruch  Sheamar  prayer  in  the  liturgy — "Blessed  is  He 
who  spoke  and  the  world  came  into  being.  Blessed  is  He 
who  made  the  creation"  (rvtptoa  has,  in  the  phrasing  of 
the  later  literature,  become  a  technical  term  indicating 
creation.  The  word  is  then  used  even  with  the  b  prefixed. 
This  of  course  arose  from  the  position  of  bereshith  as  the 
first  word  in  the  Bible  and  as  the  first  word  of  the  creation 
account.  A  similar  use  is  to  be  seen  in  another  part  of  the 
liturgy.  "  In  his  goodness  he  reneweth  every  day  the  work 
of  bereshith."  How  old  this  usage  is  can  be  seen  from  Sira 
15,  14  Hebrew  text  "Elohim  mibereshith  bara  adam.") 
The  fifth  chapter  of  the  Pirke  Aboth  "By  ten  words  was 
the  world  created";  and  references  in  the  oldest  strata  of 
Rabbinic  literature,  Sifiri,  Vayhi  Binsoa,  amply  prove  this. 
In  addition  see  also  Tanhuma,  Vayakhel  8  (page  131  of 
the  Warsaw  ed)  also  Aboth  de  Rabbi  Nathan  27,  1  and  38, 
12  at  end,  also  Seder  Eliyahu  Zuta  where  the  phrasing  of 
the  Baruch  Sheamar  prayer  is  given,  also  Erubin  13b, 
Sanhedrin  19,  Shemoth  Rab  25,  etc.  To  Him  belongs 
the  knowledge  of  the  deepest  and  the  highest  (verse  18) 

73 


of  the  past  and  of  the  future  mtpji  mc^n  Nothing  can  be 
added  to  Him,  and  nothing  can  be  taken  away  from  Him. 
His  wisdom  is  His  own  and  He  needs  no  instructor.  This 
idea  is  paralleled  by  Is.  40,  14.  "With  whom  did  He  take 
counsel  and  who  gave  Him  understanding."  The  fragments 
of  the  gnomic  literature  scattered  through  the  canon  give 
the  same  estimate.  1  Sam  14,  6 — "For  there  is  nothing 
to  prevent  the  Lord  from  saving  through  many  or  through 
few."  God  sees  all — "For  not  as  man  sees  does  the  Lord 
see — for  man  sees  according  to  the  outward  seeming,  but 
God  sees  to  the  heart"  1  Sam  16,  7.  Sira's  description  of 
nature,  sun,  moon,  stars,  rainbow,  snow,  lightning,  cloud, 
thunder  through  which  he  seeks  to  show  the  great  power 
of  God,  though  beautiful,  stands  below  Job  in  artistic  merit. 
The  phrase  which  at  first  sounds  pantheistic  43,  27  in  ppi 
^nn  Kin  "And  the  end  of  the  matter,  He  is  the  all,"  is 
hardly  so.  The  very  next  phrase  denies  the  identification. 
It  means  rather  that  all  qualities  are  His  and  therefore  sums 
up  the  attempt  to  give  all  the  attributes  since  no  other  ade- 
quate praise  of  God  is  possible.  There  is  another  such 
passage  in  a  later  didactic  poem  —  the  Shir  Hayyihud,  the 
song  of  the  Unity.  In  the  canto  for  the  third  day  of  the 
week,  there  occur  the  following  lines  ^n  r>*  *6oi  'ban  2310 
^ra  HDN  ^rn  nvrai  which  might  be  rendered  in  the  following 
pantheistic  sense — "Thou  surroundest  the  all  and  fillest 
the  all  and  when  the  all  exists  thou  art  in  the  all."  That 
to  the  later  writers  this  possibility  suggested  itself  is  proven 
by  the  fact  that  the  lines  have  been  attacked  for  what  was 
to  them  an  evident  pantheism.  But  the  border  line  is  far 
off.  The  pantheistic  phraseology  had  not  yet  reached 
such  perfection.  By  kol  the  writer  does  not  mean  the  "All" 
at  all.  He  has  reference  to  some  such  Biblical  phrase  as 
the  "Male  kol  haaretz  kevodo" — the  whole  earth  is  full 
of  his  glory.  Isaiah  6,  3. 

The  gnomic  Psalms  have  involved  in  them  a  statement 
of  revelation.    These  Psalms  have  placed  God  in  the  posi- 

74 


tion  of  the  hacham  of  the  proverbs.  So  in  Ps  50,  15-20  we 
have  God  himself  instructing  the  wicked  and  reproving 
them.  In  the  revelation  of  God  to  man,  Sira  and  Proverbs 
differ  markedly.  Both  of  them  talk  of  wisdom  and  both 
of  them  personify  it.  The  praise  of  wisdom  is  to  be  found 
in  longer  or  shorter  extracts  in  every  "Wisdom  book." 
Proverbs  can  say  of  it  that  wisdom  was  with  the  Creator 
"when  yet  there  were  no  depths,"  "before  the  mountains 
were  yet  sunk  down,"  "when  he  prepared  the  heaven"  and 
"happy  is  the  man  that  findeth  me"  for  "he  findeth  life 
and  obtaineth  favor  from  the  Lord"  (8  passim).  Job  28, 
20-28  also  has  a  description  of  wisdom.  But  neither  Job 
nor  Proverbs  take  the  step  which  Sira  takes.  Wisdom  by 
him  is  regarded  not  in  the  sense  of  teaching  or  instruction 
or  of  empirical  knowledge,  for  that  Proverbs  has  also,  but 
in  the  sense  of  the  later  Jewish  development — the  law  of 
Moses,  or  even  of  the  Torah  in  the  later  sense.  With  Sira, 
other  books  of  the  Apocrypha  share  this  notion.  Baruch 
has  the  equation  "Wisdom  is  the  Torah."  To  the  other 
nations  God  did  not  give  knowledge,  only  to  Jacob  did  he 
show  the  way  of  wisdom.  (3,  29 — 35)  This  is  the  position 
of  Sira  throughout.  In  chapter  24,  in  the  description  of 
wisdom,  parallel  to  Proverbs  8  and  9,  Wisdom  is  made  to 
say  "So  the  creator  of  all  things  gave  me  a  commandment 
and  He  that  made  me  caused  my  tabernacle  to  rest  and  said 
'Let  thy  dwelling  be  in  Jacob  and  thine  inheritance  in 
Israel.'  He  created  me  in  the  beginning"  (the  Hebrew 
text  must  have  had  here  not  merosh  or  me'olam,  but  the 
almost  technical  mibereshith,  compare  a  similar  use  in 
Sira  15,  14  hence  the  possibility  of  saying  mibereshith) 
"before  the  world"  (for  the  thought  compare  Ber.  Rab,  1.1 
where  Proverbs  is  interpreted  in  the  same  style.)  "And  I 
shall  never  fail.  Likewise  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem  was  my 
power  and  I  took  root  in  an  honorable  people,  even  in  the 
portion  of  the  Lord's  inheritance"  (compare  Deut  31,  9). 

75 


But  far  more  explicit  is  this — "All  these  things  are  the 
covenant  of  the  Most  High  God,  even  the  law  which  Moses 
commanded  for  an  heritage  unto  the  congregation  of 
Jacob."  In  Proverbs,  the  name  Moses  does  not  occur. 

After  this  statement  of  Sira,  his  doctrine  of  the  immor- 
tality of  Israel  is  clear.  "The  days  of  Israel  cannot  be 
numbered"  37,  25  (compare  this  Shir  Hashirim  Rab. 
"Yisrael  en  lahem  betelah  o'amim")  Sira's  identification 
of  the  Law  with  Wisdom  shows  itself  clearly  in  the  section 
devoted  to  the  praise  of  the  fathers.  Here  he  reviews  the 
course  of  Jewish  history  very  briefly  (for  another  passage 
in  praise  of  the  fathers  see  1  Mac  2  51-63  but  there  the 
author  has  an  entirely  different  aim.  There  the  writer  is 
interested  in  showing  the  reward  of  righteousness  and  obedi- 
ence to  the  law  of  God,  etc.,  as  exemplified  in  the  lives  of 
the  fathers)  but  dwells  lovingly  upon  Aaron,  44,  6  describing 
his  vestments,  the  offerings  and  his  consecration.  He  even 
looks  upon  the  rebellion  of  Dathan  and  Abiram  as  a  rebellion 
against  Aaron.  With  similar  loving  touch,  he  describes 
the  High  Priest  Simon.  His  description  is  the  type  of  those 
given  in  the  middle  ages  by  the  poets  of  the  liturgy,  in  the 
ritual  of  the  Day  of  Atonement,  when  the  description  of 
the  services  at  the  temple  on  that  day  forms  an  important 
part  of  the  services.  The  love  of  the  ceremonial  side  of 
religion  is  already  here  to  be  seen.  This  is  the  beginning. 
His  day  was  already  productive  of  the  beginnings  of  the 
later  Talmudic  ramifications.  For  such  a  beginning  see 
his  saying — "He  that  washeth  himself  after  touching  a 
dead  body,  if  he  touch  it  again  what  availeth  his  washing" 
34,  25.  But  there  are  indications  in  Sira  of  that  other 
side — the  study  of  the  law  is  becoming,  what  it  did  actually 
become  later,  study  for  the  pure  love  of  the  law  (39,  1-5). 

The  breach  of  the  law,  according  to  Sira  (and  man  has  the 
power  to  choose,  15, 11-17),  the  forsaking  of  wisdom,  accord- 
ing to  Proverbs  (hence  sinner  =  fool  and  sin  =  folly,  kesil, 

76 


iveleth  and  kesiluth  are  found  only  in  gnomic  literature,  evil 
is  found  only  four  times  outside  of  the  gnomic  books,  other- 
wise it  also  is  limited  to  them)  constitutes  a  sin.  Since  this 
is  ultimately  connected  with  the  thought  that  God  is  right- 
eous and  just,  the  result  of  sin  is  ever  the  same,  and  both 
Sira  and  the  Proverbs  as  well  as  the  gnomic  Psalms  have 
the  same  outlook.  The  righteous  man  insures  happiness 
to  himself  and  even  to  his  children  after  him — Pro  20,  7 
"He  who  walketh  with  integrity  is  a  righteous  man,  happy 
his  children  after  him."  He  is  delivered  from  distress, 
Pro  11,  8 — also  Job  5,  19.  "The  righteousness  of  the  upright 
will  save  them  Pro.  11,  6.  The  fruit  of  righteousness  is  a 
tree  of  life  1 1 ,  30.  Behold  the  righteous  man  is  recompensed 
on  earth  11,  31.  The  gift  of  the  Lord  remaineth  with  the 
godly  and  his  favor  bringeth  prosperity  forever"  Sira  11,7. 
Conversely,  sin  and  wickedness  lead  to  punishment  and 
death;  see  Pro.  11  passim  and  the  extensive  description  of 
the  misfortune  befalling  the  wicked  in  Job  15,  20-35  as 
well  as  Chapter  12.  Even  if  for  a  time  punishment  be 
delayed,  it  must  come.  Ps  27,  12  Pro  24.  19-20.  "  Fret  not 
thyself  because  of  the  evildoers,  nor  be  thou  envious  of  the 
wicked  for  there  will  be  no  future  for  the  evil  man."  "The 
lamp  of  the  wicked  will  be  quenched."  However,  there  is  a 
recognition  of  the  possibility  of  a  return  through  repentance, 
followed  by  forgiveness  by  God,  for  he  is  merciful.  Sira 
28,  2;  2,  11;  and  Pro  1,  20-33.  In  this  repentance,  in  the 
gnomic  writers  sacrifice  takes  little  part.  For  this  see 
Ecc.  4,  17  "And  it  is  nearer  (to  the  thing  pleasing  to  God) 
to  listen  than  to  bring  the  sacrifice  of  fools,"*121  1  Sam 
15,  22  "Behold  to  obey  is  better  than  sacrifice,  to  attend 
better  than  the  fat  of  rams,"  Amos  5,  24;  Micah  6,  7-8. 
Note  also  at  the  end  of  Job  28  which  was  throughout  a 
gnomic  section,  the  saying — "And  he  hath  said  to  man 
'Behold  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  that  is  wisdom  and  turning 
from  evil,  that  is  understanding'."  Similarly  we  should 

77 


not  be  misled  by  the  misfortunes  of  the  righteous,  for  in 
the  first  place,  it  can  only  be  temporary  Pro  24,  16  "For 
seven  times  the  righteous  man  may  fall  but  rise,  but  the 
wicked  shall  stumble  because  of  their  evil"  and  Psalms 
"Even  if  he  should  fall  he  will  not  be  swept  away,  for  the 
Lord  will  support  his  hand."  The  schemes  of  the  wicked, 
devised  against  the  righteous  react  on  themselves.  Ps  7, 
15-18.  In  the  second  place  we  have  introduced  by  Proverbs 
the  very  striking  thought  3,  11-12  "Because  whomsoever 
the  Lord  loveth  he  admonisheth  and  as  a  father  he  delight- 
eth  in  his  son."  Compare  with  this  Ps  34.  20  Job  5,17.  All 
such  trials  are  intended  to  refine  and  to  polish  for  "Gold  is 
tried  in  the  fire  and  acceptable  men  in  the  furnace  of 
adversity"  Sira  2,  5.  That  raison  d'etre  for  adversity  and 
suffering  is  quite  common  in  later  Jewish  Literature  and 
covers  both  individual  and  communal  suffering.  See 
Menahoth  5b  "The  olive  yields  its  oil  only  under  pressure, 
so  Israel  gains  his  good  powers  through  suffering."  See  also 
Berachoth  5  "Three  gifts  God  gave  to  Israel  and  all  of  them 
through  suffering."  For  this  suffering  the  Talmudic 
writers  have  the  phrase  "Yissurin  shel  ahabah."  As  for 
the  direct  connection  between  suffering  and  sin  see  Aboth 
Chap  5  paragraph  11. 

One  important  point  should  be  noted  —  Proverbs  does 
not  know  of  an  immortality.  Sayings  that  death  was  the 
end  all  were  too  common  not  to  have  had  their  effect. 
Ps  30,  10;  6,  6;  88,  11-13;  89,  49;  all  point  in  the  one 
direction.  But  neither  does  Sira  know  of  an  immortality. 
In  Chapter  41  Sira  had  a  splendid  opportunity  of  introduc- 
ing the  thought.  He  speaks  there  of  the  bitterness  of  death 
to  the  man  living  at  ease,  in  prosperity  and  happiness. 
But  he  gives  no  hint  as  to  his  belief  in  this  matter.  The 
most  that  he  will  concede  is  the  immortality  of  Israel,  and 
that,  as  can  be  seen,  is  a  different  kind  of  immortality. 
SeeSira37,25  —  IBDQ  I»K  »»»  ton«"  oy  "m  D»O»  icon  B»»K  i»n 


78 


Yet  in  the  other  wisdom  book  of  the  Apocrypha,  the  Wisdom 
of  Solomon,  the  belief  is  given  in  unmistakable  terms,  for 
example,  2,  23  "For  God  hath  created  man  to  be  immortal, 
and  made  him  to  be  an  image  of  his  own  eternity"  2  Mac 
7,  14  and  14,  46  have  statements  of  the  immortality,  more, 
in  the  latter  passage  there  is  even  included  the  resurrection 
of  thv.  body.  Sira  seems  to  have  antedated  the  burning 
question  which  was  one  of  the  dividing  lines  between 
Pharisee  and  Saducee,  but  by  the  time  of  the  Second  Mac, 
that  is,  towards  the  end  of  the  first  century  B.  C.  the 
position  was  already  an  established  one.  At  any  rate  the 
thought  of  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon  and  of  2  Mac  gives  a 
turn  to  the  old  theological  question  i^  jni  pi-re  "For  though 
they  may  be  punished  in  the  sight  of  man,  yet  is  their  hope 
full  of  immortality  3,  4  a  thought  frequently  paralleled 
in  later  Rabbinic  Literature. 

The  religious  tone  of  Ben  Sira  is  invigorating.  Compared 
with  it,  Proverbs  is  even  secular.  Never  does  Proverbs  turn 
into  a  real  prayer.  We  have  the  petition  in  Pro  30,  7-9, 
but  Sira  prays  and  knows  how  to  pray.  He  is  anxious 
moreover  that  the  God  whom  he  worships,  should  be 
recognized  by  all  the  nations  around.  "Let  them  know 
Thee  as  we  have  known  Thee  that  there  is  no  God  but  only 
Thou,  O  God."  36,  1-5.  This  is  typical  of  the  whole  spirit 
of  the  day.  The  proselytizing  tendency  (see  Schiirer  Ges 
des  Jud.  Volkes,  Edition  3,  Leipzig  1898,  Vol  3,  pp.  1-135) 
gave  rise  to  this  verse  of  Ben  Sira.  The  attitude  that  he 
assumes  man  must  take  toward  God  is  well  pointed  out  in 
34,  20  "Whoso  bringeth  an  offering  of  the  goods  of  the  poor 
doeth  as  one  that  killeth  the  son  before  the  father's  eye"- 
a  clear  expression  of  the  social  righteousness  which  brings 
the  prophets  and  the  proverb  writers  to  the  same  ideal. 
The  liturgical  forms  of  both  Church  and  Synagogue,  in 
their  insistence  on  the  fatherly  relationship  of  God  and  the 
necessity  of  social  bond  and  union  are  therefore  not  without 

more  ancient  models. 

79 


With  this  thought  of  the  brotherhood  of  man,  we  can 
easily  pass  on  to  the  duties  that  one  man  owes  another. 
Both  Proverbs  and  Sira  teach  kindness,  especially  to  the 
defenseless,  the  widow,  the  orphaned  and  the  poor.  Indeed 
in  Sira,  Charity  has  already  the  term  by  which  it  is  called 
in  later  Rabinnic  literature — sedakah  3,  30  where  it  scarcely 
means  simply  righteousness  as  is  seen  by  the  following  verse 
in  Chapter  4.  The  term  is  already  on  the  border  line, 
so  much  so  that  the  Rabbis  interpret  it  here  too  to  mean 
charity.  (Pro,  14,  34— Bab  Bathra  13b;  Pro.  10,  2— 
Rosh  Hash.  16b)  but  in  that  case  it  may  be  looked  upon  as 
a  projection  backwards  into  the  writings  of  the  past  of 
the  thought  of  the  later  writer.  For  only  in  later  times 
did  that  element  of  the  root  notion  of  sadak  gain  emphasis. 
"Do  not  distress  the  poor  for  the  cry  of  the  poor  shall  be 
heard"  Sira  4,  6.  Forgiveness  is  taught  in  the  way  of  an 
imitatio  dei.  Sira  28,  2 — "Forgive  thy  neighbor  the  hurt 
he  hath  done  thee,  so  shall  thy  sins  also  be  forgiven  when 
thou  prayest.  One  man  beareth  hatred  against  another, 
and  doth  he  seek  pardon  from  the  Lord?  He  showeth  no 
mercy  to  a  man  which  is  like  himself,  and  doth  he  ask  for- 
givness  for  his  sins?"  Qualities  which  make  it  impossible 
for  men  to  live  together  in  peace  and  harmony  are  con- 
demned— backbiting  Sira  28,  2;  Pro  11,  3;  and  compare 
Leviticus  19,  16 — pride  Sira  10,  7  and  12;  Pro  8,  13;— 
humility  is  commended  Sira  3,  18 ;  Pro  3,  34.  In  both  books 
licentiousness  and  unchastity  are  dealt  with  in  strong 
disapproving  terms.  Both  books  presuppose  monogamy. 

As  for  the  position  of  women,  Pro  31  places  it  very  high, 
though  there  are  some  passages  which  do  not  deal  kindly 
with  the  troublesome  woman.*117  Sira  has  the  same 
view.  In  general  the  Rabbis  have  a  more  exalted  opinion 
of  womankind.  With  children  Sira  recommends  harshness. 
The  daughter  gives  the  greatest  anxiety — hence  Sira  7, 
24-25  (see  69a).  The  child  must  be  handled  with  vigor 

80 


or  else  he  will  bring  trouble  to  the  parents.     Sira  29,  1. 
The  care  and  honoring  of  parents  are  enjoined  Sira  3. 

The  social  conditions  in  the  proverbial  literature  vary. 
The  conditions  drawn  from  the  fragments  in  the  literature 
point  to  very  early  conditions.  The  parables  certainly 
belong  to  conditions  attendant  upon  agricultural  life, 
with  war  which  is  possible  of  course  at  any  period.  But  as 
we  proceed  we  find  the  arts  and  crafts  opening  out.  Ps  118, 
22  has  a  builders  proverb — "The  stone  which  the  builders 
have  rejected  hath  become  the  corner  stone."  Isaiah 
45,  9-10  has  the  pottery  industry  in  mind.  "Shall  the  clay 
say  to  the  potter  what  doest  thou  and  thy  work  if  he  has 
no  hands."  Jeremiah  18,6  "We  are  as  the  clay  in  the  hands 
of  the  potter."  Isaiah  has  the  carpenter.  The  general  con- 
dition of  the  hired  man  is  referred  to  in  Job  7,  1-2.  Haggai 
1,  6  "He  who  does  gain  anything  will  be  as  one  gaining 
(or  putting  his  wage)  into  a  bag  with  holes."  Agriculture  of 
course  gives  its  quota.  Amos  6,  12  "Will  horses  run  upon 
the  rock,  or  will  a  man  plow  the  sea  with  oxen."  Job  31,  40 
refers  to  the  unreliability  of  crops.  The  same  notion  is 
turned  by  Isaiah  5,  2,  4  to  good  account  in  portraying  the 
meagre  returns  from  the  Lord's  vineyard.  Job  8,  11  "Can 
the  bulrush  shoot  upward  without  mire,  can  the  meadow 
grass  grow  up  without  water"  has  the  same  agricultural 
source.  In  Isaiah  28,  23-29  again  agricultural  conditions. 
The  riddle  of  Samson  Judges  14,  18,  "If  ye  had  not  plowed 
with  my  heifer,  etc.,"  ought  to  be  included.  The  vintage 
gives  the  proverb  to  Obadiah  5  as  well  as  to  Jeremiah  49,  9 
Sira  takes  a  derogatory  view  of  trades  and  is  therefore 
decidedly  inferior  to  the  thought  of  the  Talmudic  authori- 
ties who  extolled  manual  labor  and  made  it  obligatory  upon 
every  man  to  teach  his  son  an  honest  trade.  The  commercial 
life,  that  through  Greek  spirit  was  coming  into  Palestine 
he  condemns,  31,  15.  But  in  this  respect  he  agrees  with  the 
spirit  of  the  pentateuchal  legislation  and  with  the  attitude 

81 


of  the  Rabbis.  D'rno  minoa  naian  ^r  *rti  (Aboth  and  see 
also  Sira  38,  24.)  See  Genizah  Fragments  J.  I.  R.  Vol.  16, 
page  13,  line  18  —  'n  IJBO  npj'  VK  in»=n  lonm  i:in  rma 
As  for  the  political  conditions  the  two  canonical  books 
are  about  the  same.  In  both  books  we  read  of  a  king  who 
is  theoretically  always  wise.  Sira  10.  Him  the  Lord  has 
chosen  to  rule  over  his  people  and  when  he  is  righteous  the 
land  will  prosper.  As  the  king,  so  the  people  Pro  29,  12. 
But  there  are  indications  that  the  theoretically  perfect  king 
was  in  actuality  rather  faulty  and  there  are  little  remarks 
here  and  there  which  go  to  show  that  administration  was 
not  always  running  smoothly.  "An  unwise  king  destroyeth 
his  people"  Sira  10,  3.  Sometimes  through  the  poverty 
of  the  land,  the  representatives  of  the  majesty  and  the 
might  of  the  king  went  hungry.  Sira  26,  28.  Of  the  learned 
classes,  Sira  knows  the  scribe  and  the  physician.  Despite 
the  fact  that  he  says  "He  who  runneth  before  his  maker 
let  him  fall  into  the  hand  of  the  physician"  38,  15, *118  he 
can  still  say  "Honor  the  physician  with  the  priest  and  give 
him  his  portion  as  it  is  commanded  thee.  "*1 1  The  hostility 
to  the  physician  is  expressed  in  another  one  of  the  gnomic 
books — in  the  Aboth  di  Rabbi  Nathan.*180  The  man  who 
meets  with  most  favor  in  his  eyes  is  the  man  who  gives  his 
mind  to  the  study  of  the  Law  of  the  Most  High,  39,  1. 
His  duty  it  is — lehagdil  Torah  ulhaadirah — "to  increase 
the  Law  and  to  glorify  it." 


82 


Notes 

1.  It  is  possible  that  here  the  author  is  quoting  an  old 
proverb  and  providing  it  with  a  running  commentary. 

2.  "Skin  for  skin"  and  perhaps  also  the  rest  of  the 
verse  (although  that  might  be  regarded  as  an  explanation  of 
the  short  saying  which  had  lost  its  original  force  and  there- 
fore the  author  felt  the  explanation  necessary)  must  have 
been  used  originally  in  a  sense  parallel  to  Exodus  21,  24-25 
"Eye  for  eye,  tooth  for  tooth." 

3.  See  Delitzsch,  Assyrisches  Handworterbuch,  Leip- 
zig, 1896  p  431. 

4.  Id.  p.  432. 

5.  Jeremiah    31,    28.         nrnpn  o»3i  »a»i  IDS  rtsn  nn« 
Ezekiel   18,   2   rwnpn  D'jsn  >JBM  103  I^KI  HUM     The  LXX 
Ed.  Swete,  Cambridge  1899)  does  not  make  any  distinc- 
tions and  renders  both  alike,  with  the  exception  of  the 
rendering  for  nj'npn  where  the  Hebrew  is  the  same  in  Jere- 
miah and  Ezekiel.   Jr.  31,  29.  'Ot  irarepes  tyayov  6ju<£a/ca  KCLI 
ol  odovres  T&V  TCKVUV  TjjUcoStcKraf  Ezekiel  has  instead  of 


6. 


on'mnj?  lamwi  Di'Ki  INCH 
7.  1  Sam  19,  24  has  the  mere  statement  of  the  proverb 
as  arising  out  of  Saul's  presence  among  the  "sons  of  the 
prophets."  1  Sam  10,  12  on  the  other  hand  is  an  attempted 
explanation  as  to  the  reason  and  origin  of  the  proverb. 
The  starting  point  for  the  understanding  of  the  proverb 
is  to  be  found  in  the  acknowledged  surprise  at  finding  Saul 
in  his  present  company.  One  or  the  other,  Saul  or  his 
prophetic  associates,  is  of  a  distinctly  inferior  rank  and  the 
difference  is  recognized  by  the  people.  But  which  one* 

83 


Saul  or  the  prophets,  is  the  inferior?  The  LXX  by  its 
rendering  /ecu  T'LS  Trarrjp  avrov  for  the  Massoretic  text 
art's*  IQ»  leans  to  the  side  of  the  prophets.  Saul  is  not  so 
much  superior,  if  at  all,  "for  who  is  his  father."  So  the 
Syr.  and  Vulg,  render. 

Smith,  International  Critical  Commentary,  Samuel, 
New  York,  1899,  pp  70-71  does  not  give  a  definite  decision 
on  this  point.  He  thinks  that  the  LXX  reading  gives 
little  help,  but  leans  to  the  opinion  that  the  surprise  is 
expressed  because  Saul,  the  son  of  a  well  to  do  man  should 
be  found  in  the  company  of  the  wandering  prophets. 

Budde,  Kurzer  Hand  Kommentar  zum  Alten  Testament 
Tubingen.  1902.  in  loco,  does  not  accept  the  LXX,  Syr 
and  Vulgate  rendering.  "Wahrscheinlicher  ist  die  umge- 
kehrte  auffassung-Saul  als  Kind  guter  Eltern  sollte  sich 
doch  mit  solch  hergelaufenen  Leuten  abgeben." 

Klosterman,  Kurzgefaster  Kommentar.  Nordlingen, 
1897,  in  loco,  is  too  far  fetched  in  his  attempt  to  see  the 
popular  etymology  for  toos  as  being  13*  TH. 

Driver,  Notes  to  the  Hebrew  Text  of  the  Books  of  Sam- 
uel, Oxford  1890,  follows  the  Hebrew — "who  is  their  father" 
i.e.  is  their  father  more  likely  than  Kish  to  have  had  a  son 
a  prophet.  Prophetic  inspiration  is  no  hereditary  inspira- 
tion. 

The  commentators  do  not  allow  for  the  fact  that  there 
might  have  been,  as  there  probably  was,  an  earlier  and  a 
later  interpretation.  The  earlier  would  have  spoken  against 
the  prophets,  who  at  that  time  were  at  their  very  beginnings 
and  had  no  actual  accomplishments  recorded  to  their 
credit.  The  later  account  would  have  felt  that  Saul  was 
hardly  worthy  of  the  companionship  of  the  prophets. 

8.  Jeremiah  8,  7. 

9.  The   Old   Testament  in   Greek  According   to   the 
Septuagint,  Swete,  Cambridge  1899. 

10.  Duhm,   Das  Buch  Jesaia,  Handkommentar  zum 
Alten  Testament,  Gottingen  1902. 

84 


11.  Marti,  Kurzer  Hand  Kommentar  Tubingen,  1900, 
in  loco. 

12.  Cheyne,  The  Prophecies  of  Isaiah.    London  1884, 
in  loco. 

13.  Dillman,  Der  Prophet  Isaiah,  Leipzig,  1890,  in  loco. 

14.  Orelli,  Kurzgefaster  Kommentar,  Munich  1891. 

15.  Hitzig,     Die    Prophetischen    Biicher    des    Alten 
Testament,  Leipzig,  1854. 

16.  Die     Spriiche,     Hand     Kommentar    zum     Alten 
Testament,  Gottingen  1898. 

17.  Die  Spriiche  erklart.      Kurzer  Handkommentar. 
Freiburg,  1897. 

18.  Toy,  Proverbs,  International  Critical  Commentary, 
New  York,  1899. 

19.  iN3B"  D^'oa1)  on1?  nan  \i&  D'x1?!  'ns  larmn  D»DB  'na  ty 

•njn 

20.  Cheyne,  Prophecies  of  Isaiah,  London  1884. 

21.  Duhm.    Das  Buch  Jesaia,  K.  H.  zum  Alten  Testa- 
ment, Gottingen  1902. 

22.  The  maun  passages  are  the  following: 
Proverbs  2,  7;   18,  1;   3,  21;  8,  14. 

Job5,  12;  6,13;  11,6;  12,16;  26,3;  30,22. 

23.  The  nsy  passages  are  more  numerous.     It  occurs 
87  times  in  all,  29  of  this  number  being  found  in  Proverbs, 
Job  and  Psalms. 

24.  The  parallelism  can  be  seen  by  comparison  of  the 
columns 

Isaiah  33.  Psalms  15. 


npia  13^  "m*  'a 
•mi  rnpns   •frn 


.14 


.15a 


nntra 


yatPB    13TK    DtDN 
1»3»J?   DXJ?1 

n'ana  Kin 


.16 


»  »a 
ina 


nox 


3  »r>  nsim  njn 

ina  iaty>    'a  nnp 


85 


Duhm,  above  quoted,  denies  the  parallelism  and  takes  15b 
as  an  interpolation,  but  the  parallelism  exists  outside  of  15b. 

25.  The  LXX   has  for   pnx    dSt/ccos   but  that  mani- 
festly cannot  be  the  rendering  for  pm. 

Cheyne,  "Can  the  prey  be  taken  from  the  mighty  one,  or 
the  captive  of  the  terrible  one  escape."  The  prophecies  of 
Isaiah,  London  1884.  Hitzig  keeps  the  reading  pnx. 
Orelli  has  "statt  pnx  lies  nach  Syr.  Vulg.  mit  vielen 
anderen  piy." 

Dillman-Most  of  the  commentators  have  interpreted  the 
112:1  to  be  the  Chaldean;  in  that  case  pns  cannot  be  inter- 
preted, for  while  it  may  mean  "victor,"  it  always  implies, 
besides,  the  notion  of  "right,"  therefore  they  must  neces- 
sarily change  pns  to  pip.  Dillman  (as  does  Marti,  K. 
Hk  zum  A.  T.)  takes  112.3  to  refer  to  God  and  then  pnx 
could  stand  as  the  Massoretic  text  has  it.  But  against 
Dillman  it  can  be  urged  that  if  112.3  and  pns  mean  God, 
the  next  verse  cannot  be  interpreted.  From  God  it  would  be 
supposed  that  nothing  could  possibly  escape.  But  the 
answer  to  the  question  "can  the  prey  be  taken  from  the 
mighty  one"  is  that  the  prey  will  actually  escape.  112:1 
and  pnx  must  therefore  refer,  at  least,  to  some  human 
being,  from  whom  escape  may  be  possible  but  hardly  likely. 
The  qualities  of  this  human  are  emphasized  to  be  such 
that  one  would  hardly  expect  that  what  he  was  seized  should 
ever  be  able  to  escape  his  clutches  and  actually  regain 
freedom.  The  13  and  the  DJ  are  in  place  in  the  text  and  are 
of  importance,  besides.  You  would  not  expect  that  such 
and  such  would  happen  but,  12,  it  does  happen. 

Duhm,   Das  Buch  Jesaia  Hk.  zum  Alten  Testament 
Gottingen  1902,  adopts  the  reading  pnj?. 

26.  Duhm,  Das  Buch  Jeremia,  Kurzer  hand  kommentar 
Tubingen  1901,  in  loco.  "9,  22-23  ist  ein  harmlos  unbedeu- 
tender  spruch." 

Hitzig,   Der  Prophet  Jeremia,   2nd   Ed.   Leipzig   1866 
calls  attention  to  the  recurrences  of  the  three  ideals  ion 


pTs  in  Ps.  33,  5.  But  that  all  points  to  the  gnomic 
origin  of  the  section  in  Jeremiah.  That  does  not  mean 
necessarily  that  the  Prophet  borrowed  the  passage  bodily, 
or  even  that  he  had  some  text  before  him  which  he  altered 
slightly  in  order  to  make  it  fit  the  purposes  for  which  he 
intended  it.  It  only  implies  the  presence  of  a  literature, 
with  distinctive  vocabulary  and  terminology.  Part  of  that 
literature  to  be  sure  was  only  in  the  making.  It  was  still 
in  the  speech  of  the  folk.  But  part  of  it  must  most  assuredly 
have  been  written.  Giesebricht,  Das  Buch  Jeremia, 
Gottingen  1894,  in  loco  —  "eine  Gnome."  Because  of  its 
gnomic  character  it  of  course  necessarily  falls  out  of  align- 
ment with  the  rest  of  the  chapter  in  Jeremiah.  But  that 
does  not  argue  against  its  authenticity  as  a  part  of  Jere- 
miah's writing.  It  fits  in  with  the  opinions  of  Jeremiah  as 
well  as  anywhere  else.  Comparison  with  Isaiah  60,  18 
and  the  use  of  the  root  there  (  nSin)  shows  that  ^n  was  used 
of  the  "war  cry,"  the  "cry  of  victory."  Marti  Kurzer  Hk 
in  loco  has  "  Ruhm,"  "  weil  sie  den  Heiden  Einlass  gewahren, 
die  mit  ihren  Gaben  den  Ruhm  der  Stadt  bezeugen"  but 
this  does  not  carry  out  the  figure  of  war  in  the  verse  implied. 
Of  course  there  is  no  doubt  that  n'bnn  later  means  praise  and 
that  therefore  "Renown,"  Cheyne,  Prophecies  of  Isaiah, 
in  loco,  is  correct  as  far  as  it  goes.  But  1  Kings  20,  11  also 
points  the  way  to  the  military  use  of  the  word  Vi>nrp  .  This 
interpretation  is  strengthened  by  the  use  of  njMB"  in  Isaiah 
60,  18.  That  is  undoubtedly  a  military  phrase,  see  Isaiah 
26,  1;  52,  7;  59,  17.  Ps.  118,  15  where  nyw  is  used  with 
MT  *ip  Ex.  15,  2;  14,  13;  2Ch.  20,  17  etc. 

27.     Genizah    Fragments    Jewish    Quarterly    Review 
Vol.  16;  of  the  Ms.  p.  5  line  14ff. 


inosn  ma  DTK  ttnrv  ^«  nani 

'"3  ^nntfn  mtaa1?  DK  '=  inneffb  liana 

Tom  npTs  mtrj;^  imn;i  nsa  DTK  ttnrv 

^sji  DTK  npTxn  '2  i*wy  Tnsa  DTK 

87 


yv>  tyi  in  K 

(jmn)  ^BTD  on  a'Dtrna  noi  '2 

Ton  DUD*?!  ns»  rw  ims1?  DX  '2 

iTa  PHI  i^>sr6  D^ia»  DJ'N  '2 

28.     Ps  1,3.  Jeremiah  17,  8. 


mm 


K"?  intyi  inys  im  ins 


•biT  ^j;i  D»O  ^y  'bint?  ry- 
on  Ni'  '2  NT  «^i  rtntr 


N^  mm  naBQi  pjn  inty  mm 

29.  Carmel,  by  its  location,  striking  and  impressive, 
would  easily  lend  itself  to  figurative  usages.    The  precipi- 
tous break  at  the  sea  accented  its  height.    Tabor  also  was 
marked  out  by  its  location  on  the  northern  face  of  the  plain 
of  Esdraelon,  for  the  poet's  figures.    See  Smith,  Historical 
Geography  of  Palestine,  New  York,  1903,  Tenth  Ed.  pp  340. 
"Carmel  is  visible  not  only  from  the  hills  of  Samaria,  from 
Jaffa,  from  Tyre,  from  Hermon,  from  the  hills  of  Naphtali, 
but  also  from  the  hills  behind  Gadara,  East  of  the  Jordan 
and  from  many  other  points  in  Gilead."     For  Tabor  see 
page  417. 

30.  The  LXX  (Swete  B)  reads  ol  \ey6vrcs  Ovx*-  Trpo<r6 
drcos  oi/caSojur/i'Tcu  at  oiKidt ;  avrr)  icrnv  6  \e/3r)s  17^6  ts  de  rd  Kpea 
Kretzschmar,    Handkommentar    zum    Alten    Testament, 
Gottingen,  1900,  renders  the  passage  as  follows  "Die  da 
sprechen  'Sollten  wir  uns  nicht  den  Tochtern  der  Stadt 
Jerusalem  (geschlechtlich)  nahen?'     1st  sie  doch  der  Topf 
und  wir  das  Fleisch?"     His  commentary  starts  with  b. 
The  pot  is  the  city,  those  who  live  in  it  are  secure  and  safe 
from  the  flames.    There  is  also  a  certain  implied  superiority 
over  those  who  were  carried  away  into  exile.    He  therefore 
suggests  that  the  full  statement  of  the  second  half  was,  by 
comparison  with  Ezekiel  24,   10  unJ*n  man  Ten  Ton  Tj?n 
IBQPI  K.  suggests  mp  in  the  sexual  sense  and  takes  DTB  as  an 
abbreviation  for  D^tPiT  ra- 

Smend,  Der  Prophet  Ezechiel,  Leipzig,  1880,  also  makes 
b  the  starting  point  of  the  commentary  "die  jedenfalls  die 


1  versh.  motivirt"  and,  as  Kretzschmar,  makes  it  imply 
security  on  the  part  of  those  who  are  in  the  city. 

Ewald  reads  with  the  Septuagint,  but  he  does  not  con- 
sider necessary  the  change  of  >6  into  »6n.  Smend,  because 
the  rendering  of  Ewald  does  not  agree  with  Ezekiel  24, 
renders,  "It  is  not  yet  at  the  building  stage  we  have  much 
to  suffer  from  the  fires  of  war." 

Hitzig,  Der  Prophet  Ezechiel,  Leipzig  1847,  says  that 
the  N1?  cannot  equal  i6n.  The  leaders  are  thinking  of  making 
war,  and  therefore  insist  that  the  proper  time  for  building 
is  not  the  present. 

Orelli,  Das  Buch  Ezechiel  Munich  1896,  takes  it  as  a 
statement  of  the  war  party.  We  have  the  war  to  think 
about  first. 

Bertholet,  Das  Buch  Hezekiel,  Freiburg,  1897,  agrees 
with  Cornill  who  follows  the  LXX,  reading  ma  anp»  K^n 


The  houses  have  been  rebuilt  are  we  not  safe? 
Of  the  Jewish  commentators  Rashi,  takes  b  as  implying 
security. 

is  rtiaa  inj  ty  TDH  ]o  NXV  itran  put?  DSC  ityan  uniNi  von  K»H 
•moat?  nj?  n:aa  NX:  K^ 

The  first  part  he  understands  as  being  elliptical     Dnai«n 

ni:a  N1™  nn^   wirb   p«   DTD  nm     :D'Kia:n  nm  i«n»  an  pa  x1? 
•  lime  iy  nxm  vpn  i»  n^a  n^  »a  anna  natpi  n^na 

Kimhi  agrees  with  Rashi  in  assuming  the  first  part 
elliptical.  The  rendering  of  Kretzschmar  of  aip  in  the  sexual 
sense  is  too  far  fetched  to  be  of  any  value  here.  Nor  is  it 
necessary  to  clog  the  interpretation  by  assuming  that  once 
a  prophet  uses  a  certain  figure  he  has  to  develop  it  in  exactly 
the  same  fashion  in  every  other  chapter  of  the  book.  It 
is  mechanical  to  say  that  the  phrase  here  must  coincide 
with  the  other  pot  passage  in  Ezekiel  24.  The  key  to  the 
interpretation  lies  in  verse  7.  The  prophet's  answer  would 
be  without  point  if  we  could  not  assume  that  the  men  of 

89 


Jerusalem  have  been  saying  all  along  that  they  could  not 
be  removed  from  the  city.  Jerusalem  is  now  to  remain  and 
those  who  live  in  it  are  safe.  Ezekiel's  answer  is  the  only 
permanent  ones  are  those  whom  you  have  slain  in  the  city. 
The  living  shall  be  carried  forth.  Hence  3b  must  be  taken 
to  indicate  fancied  security  on  the  part  of  those  who  would 
begin  designs  for  the  rebuilding  and  refortifying  of  Jerusalem 
3a  we  read  in  accordance  with  the  LXX  with  K^PI. 

31.  Ewald  Propheten,  2nd  Edition,  Vol  2.  Gottingen 
1868. 

32.  Cornill,  Der  Prophet  Ezekiel,  1886. 

33.  Bernholet,  Das  Buch  Hezekiel,  Freiburg,  1889. 

34.  Kretzschmar,  Handkommentar  zum  Alten  Testa- 
ment, Gottingen  1900. 

35.  Harper,  Amos  and  Hosea,  International  Critical 
Commentary,  New  York,  1905.     "The  prophet  introduces 
the  new  strophe  with  one  of  the  many  wise  sayings  which 
were  familiar  to  him,  moral  sayings  which  constituted  the 
stock  in  trade  of  the  wise  men  who  sat  at  the  gate.    Other 
examples  of  the  use  of  the  wisdom  sayings  may  be  found  in 
4,  Ib,  14d;    6,  4b;    8,  7a;    10,  12f;    14,  9." 

36.  Harper,  above  quoted. 

37.  Nowack  Die  Kleine  Propheten,  Handkommentar 
zum  Alten  Testament.    The  LXX  Ed.  Swete,  B.  rearranges 
the  last  phrase  of  the  verse.  It  reads  KCU  o  Xaos  o  avviuv 
(7vveir\6K6TO  Hera  Tropi>r}s.  What  it  did  seems  to  be  to  have  taken 
the  rut    DN  of  the  next  verse,  read  it  rut  cy  and  added  it  to  14d. 

Nowack  takes  it  as  a  fragment,  occurring  elsewhere  and 
inserted  here,  but  he  does  not  indicate  the  only  possible 
source  for  such  a  statement-proverbial  literature. 

Harper,  Amos  arid  Hosea,  International  Critical  Com- 
mentary, renders  "Yea,  a  people  stupid  and  falling  to  ruin" 
but  the  pm  »6  is  relative  and  tsa^»»  is  the  main  verb. 

Gardner's  emendation  (A.  J.  S.  L.Vol  18,  p  79)  n'Stun  nyi 
is  mere  conjecture. 

90 


This  much  must  be  granted,  tsa^  pa>  *6  Djn  does  not 
go  with  the  preceding  assertions  made  in  the  verse.  It  is 
evidently  an  addition.  It  might  possibly  be  the  second 
half  of  4,  11  and  the  complete  proverb  would  then  read 
.B3^»  p3»  N1?  Djn  n1?  np»  BMvm  pn  nut 

39.  Swete  Ed.  B. 

40.  Marti,  Kurzer  Hk  1903. 

41.  Michaelis,  Deutsche  Ubersetzung  des  Alten  Testa- 
ment, 1872. 

Emendation  accepted  by  Nowack,  Harper  and  Marti. 

42.  Konig  Stylistik,  Poetik  und  Rhetorik,  Leipzig,  1900. 
Budde  Z.  A.  T.  W.  1882,  6ff. 

See  also  Hebrew  text  of  Ben  Sira  38,  16b. 

43.  Briggs,  Psalms,  International  Critical  Commentary, 
New  York,  1906. 

44.  Ehrlich. 

45.  €7rioT?7poco  eirl    ak    TOVS    6<£0aXjuoi>s    yuou   "Dasselbe 
Wort  haben  sie  fur  nxy  Proverbs  16,  30.  "  (Baethgen  Psalms, 
Hk  zum  Alten  Testament).    They  therefore  read  nxp  PK. 

46.  Baethgen,  Psalms,  Hk.  zum  A.  T.  in  loco. 

47.  Duhm,  Kurzer  Hk.  zum  A.  T.  in  loco. 

48.  iriNi   S1U2  iin  »JD   i«a  "n  ijn  i«a 
D"n  rsnn    B"«n  »a  in^>  IOK  "n  i1?  an  n»^>  nan 


See  also  Yalkut  Shimoni,  Paragraph  720  at  end.     See 
also  Vayikra  Rab.  16,  2. 

49.  Baethgen  quotes  Krochmal.     The  emendation  of 
liana  into  pna  as  suggested  by  Krochmal  is  confirmed  by 
comparison  with  Tobit  12,  8b.  See  page  22  of  the  text. 

50.  See  note  43. 

51.  Baethgen  Psalms,  in  loco. 

52.  The  LXX  agrees  with  the  Massoretic  text  except 
in  that  it  evidently  read  n'nan'w  </>Xo7es  aurrjs.    Furthermore 
ithasroj'Traj'Ta/Sioi'for  in>3  pn  Vs  n«.  Did  it  have  the  reading 
before  it  of  itrsa  '•o  n«?    The  text  as  the  Hebrew  now  has  it 

91 


seems  to  be  confirmed  by  Pro.  6,  30-31  where  we  have  the 
same  ma'   and  irva  ]in  ^a  n*. 

rvnante  Budde  (Kurzer  Hk.  Freiburg,  1898,  in  loco) 
quotes  Bickell  as  suggesting  n»mnte  iip»  mante;  Ewald, 
Hitzig,  Olshausen  Kamphausen  suggest  the  simple  reduplica- 
tion n'an^>»  rpfian'w.  This  naturally  would  account  for  the 
present  condition  of  the  text.  The  scribe  left  out  one  of  the 
words  that,  to  his  eye,  were  absolutely  alike.  The  n'  ending 
of  the  second  is  by  these  commentators  taken  to  be  the 
divine  element.  They  render  "Brandes  Flammen  sind 
ihre  Flammen" — that  is,  the  lightning,  just  as  mrp  ^ip  is 
the  thunder. 

Ibn  Ezra  has  this  comment — DK  mi  can  »B»IR  pa  np^na 
:^H  mn  ins  otrn  na'ooi  D»nw  KTIB>  anpm  o»n»  IN  firm  r^a  son 

He  takes  the  word  as  being  two  words  and  the  rn  he 
also  takes  as  the  divine  element.  Another  Hebrew  com- 
mentator, Mezudath  Zion,  also  takes  the  rv  as  the  divine 
element  and  adds  that  it  is  here  used  as  it  is  in  H'^BKO  Jer. 
2,  31  to  denote  intensity.  Other  words  with  similar  ending 
iT^UKB  pparno  (see  Gesenius  Diet.  s.  v.)  are  treated  in  the 
same  way.  But  it  is  hard  to  maintain  any  such  interpreta- 
tion in  the  face  of  a  name  like  rvpiapa  where  we  have  exactly 
the  same  formation.  It  is  much  preferable  to  take  rn  away 
from  any  relationship  with  the  n»  of  God's  name  and  simply 
look  upon  it  as  an  emphatic  ending.  See  Jastrow,  Journal 
of  Biblical  Literature,  1894  pp  19ff.  101-127.  The  crux  of 
the  question  is  in  the  occurrence  of  the  ending  jah  in 
Assyrian  names.  Delitzsch  looks  upon  it  as  a  personal 
prefix  and  not  as  a  divine  element.  (The  Lutheran  Church 
Review  14,  196-201.)  See  also  Clay  the  Amurru,  the  Home 
of  the  Northern  Semites,  Philadelphia,  1909,  pp  202  ff. 

53.  See  Steuernagel  in  Hk  zum  A.  T.  Joshua  page  175. 

54.  Trumbull,    The    Threshhold    Covenant,    pp.    22, 
51,  55. 

Strack,  Der  Blutaberglaube,  p  68. 

92 


55.  1  Sam,  26,  20.       -WIN  BMJHB  rw  trpn^  ^»OBM  -po  «s»  »r 
mipn  *nv  IB-JO 

1  Sam  24,  15.  spm  nrm  »»  nrm  Siav  *tf>o  KS»  »»  nnn 
:  nnx  »jnB  nng  no  rtz  nn« 

The  LXX  inserts  in  1  Sam  26,  20  »&>BJ  after  »pa^.  It 
reads  on  e%eXri\vd€i>  6  /3a<nXeus  Icrpa^X  £r)Teli>  4/vX"h1'  fj'°v  and  it 
leaves  out  the  nn»  anjnfi  nx.  In  support  of  the  LXX  is  the 
argument  against  the  double  comparison  involved  in  the 
Massoretic  text  —  the  king  pursues  after  David  as  a  flee,  as 
one  hunts  the  partridge  on  the  mountains.  With  IB>DJ 
moreover  the  n«  would  be  in  place.  The  LXX  to  1  Sam 
24,  15  has  both  the  dog  and  the  flea  proverb. 

The  Trw  en  ins  of  1  Sam  26,  20  is  an  insertion  in  the  nature 
of  a  reminiscence  of  the  scribe  or  reader  of  1  Sam  24,  15. 
Klosterman's  insertion  of  itwr  in  the  text  makes  the  figure 
complete,  but  the  figure  can  stand  without  it.  See  Budde, 
Die  Biicher  Samuel,  Kurzer  Hk.  Tubingen  1902.  Driver, 
Notes  to  the  Hebrew  Text  of  the  Books  of  Samuel,  Kloster- 
man,  Die  Bucher  Samuelis  and  der  Konige.  Kurzgefaster 
Kommentar,  Nordlingen,  1887.  Smith,  Samuel,  Inter- 
national Critical  Commentary,  New  York  1899. 

56.  LXX  Swete  B  .  ort  ou%  cos  e/ijSXe'i/'erat  avdpuiros, 
6  0e6s. 

57.  Duu*>vwKi   DiBBiai  ]Kpi  net?  »ino  pn  rmm 
ii'Ns*'  »oi  jptm  r6inm  Koiom  ijpnn  aninityo  DJ'Nty  onsyi 


58.  nriB»3  un  ^nn«  ^K  while  it  is  possible  with  Kittel, 
Hk  zum  A.  T.  in  loco,  to  limit  the  -un  to  the  putting  on  of 
the  sword  (see  the  full  expression  in  1  Sam.  17,  39;  25,  13 
and  Ps.  45,  4)  it  is  preferable  to  regard  it  in  the  more  general 
sense.  Girding  up  the  loins  was  the  preparatory  stage  to 
labor,  battle  or  to  the  march.  The  loosening  of  the  girdle, 
or  the  opening  of  it,  would  be  the  sign  that  the  battle, 
march  or  task  of  any  kind  was  over  and  accomplished. 

^nrp  cannot  be  disassociated  from  the  Aramaic  K^i^n  or 
the  Assyrian  alalu,  to  shout  for  joy.  Here  it  means  "to 

93 


sing  the  chant  of  victory."  In  other  words,  "Let  not  the 
man  who  is  just  girding  up  his  loins,  to  enter  the  battle, 
set  up  the  song  of  victory  as  can  one  who  has  already  loosened 
his  girdle."  In  the  sense  of  singing  the  ttn  to  oneself  it 
comes  to  mean  simply  to  boast.  See  Jeremiah  9,  22-23. 
Proverbs  20,  14;  25,  14.  Psalms  52,  3.  Pro.  27,  1  Jeremiah 
49,  4.  Ps  97,  7. 

59.  Talmud  Babli.    Sanhedrin  38b. 

Krftm  BMYT  mn  nwsa  VKO  'i  BMYT  mn  »r  pnv   »n  Van 
HIND  'j  prm  '-i  i»«i   '"brie 

^K    1J1?    P«    UKl    VKO    '21^> 

60.  Talmud  Babli  Succah  28a  and  Baba  Bathra  134a. 
In   both   passages   the   reference   is   particularly   directed 
towards  the  D^»I»  mte»  as  it  was  in  the  case  of  Rabbi  Meir. 

61.  See  Yalkut  Shimoni  to  2  Chron.  9,  1.  paragraph 
1085. 

62.  See  Zunz,   Zur   Geschichte   und   Literatur    122ff. 
See  also  the  letter  of  Maimonides  to  his  son  (m^Ktri  m"UK 
nmtwii  Warsaw  1877  p  2  ff.)  and  also  the  opening  chapter 
of  the  Pirl^e  Derabbenu  Hakkadosh. 

63.  Kautzsch  edition.  Die  Apokryphen  und  Pseudepi- 
graphen  des  Alten  Testament,  Tubingen  1900.    For  litera- 
ture see  Schurer  Geschichte  des  Jiidischen  Volkes  in  ZA 
Jesu  Christu  3rd  Edition  Leipzig  1898.  3rd  Vol.  p  344. 

64.  Die  Apokryphen  und  Pseudepigraphen  des  A.  T. 
1900. 

65.  Ibid. 

66.  Charles  Taylor.     Sayings  of  the  Jewish  Fathers. 
2nd  Edition  Cambridge  1899. 

67.  S.  Schechter,  Aboth   de    Rabbi  Nathan.    Vienna 
1887. 

68.  Nos  3-12  in  the  Sefer.  Hallikutim  edited  by  Dr. 
L.  Griinhut,  Jerusalem  1903.    There  are  more  in  the  n^» 
D>nriBJ  DITCD  edited  by  Schonblum  and  in  the  3rd  Vol  of 
the  Beth  Talmud,  Vienna  1883. 

94 


69.  Leopold  Dukes,  Rabbinische  Blumenlese,  Leipzig 
1844. 

70.  laa-n  pto  IBD  Lublin  1898. 

71.  n'j'jsn  inio  IBC  Das  Buch  Mibhar  Hapeninim  des 
Rabbi  Jedaja  ben  Abraham  Bederaschi  Penini,  Text  by 
Dessau   and   German   translation   by   Hirsch   Lowinsohn. 
Berlin  1842. 

72.  See    Genizah    Fragments.    S.    Schechter,    Jewish 
Quarterly  Review,  Vol.  16  pp  425-442.     In  a  later  note 
(see  page  776  of  the  same  volume)  Schechter  makes  cor- 
rections of  npora  into  naarn  on  page  443  and   «,QD  into  102 
on  line  10  of  page  434.    Both  of  these  were  typographical 
errors.     The  Ms.  has  the  correct  reading  in  both  cases. 
Through  the  courtesy  and  kindness  of  Dr.  Schechter  I  was 
allowed  to  examine  the  manuscript  and  have  noted  the 
following  corrections  to  the  printed  text.     Of  these  cor- 
rections some  are  typographical  errors,  some  are  misread- 
ings  of  the  Ms  and  others  deal  with  conjectures  which  on 
further  examination  of  the  Ms  cannot  be  allowed  or  do  not 
seem  probable. 

The  Ms  has  14  pages  and  I  therefore  refer  to  the  Ms 
numbering  1  to  14. 

Page  1.  Line  2.  It  is  rather  clear  that  the  text  of  a  is 
noni  niKno  "nan  nor  is  the  ejn  of  JI-WM  invisible. 

3b.  niKD  is  clear.  The  last  word  is  perhaps  n^a«.  The 
upper  stroke  of  the  h  is  still  to  be  seen  and  the  vowel  above 
(the  Ms.  is  provided  with  the  superlinear  accents)  is  v. 
The  context  suggests  the  reading  n^s*. 

4b.  So  much  is  readable  D'forn 'no)o 

5b.  All  that  is  visible  is  the  first  word 

6b.  The  first  three  letters  are  most  probably  vrh  and 
not  vnh. 

7b.  The  reading  is  m.....N  mi.  The  K  belongs  to  the 
second  word. 

lOb.  b  starts  in  from  the  margin.  There  is  a  space 
where  a  word  might  have  been  written.  The  top  layer 

95 


of  the  paper  is  gone.  It  is,  therefore,  to  be  inferred  that 
the  scribe  had  made  a  mistake,  erased  the  word  and  then 
found  that  he  could  not  write  on  the  rough  surface  that 
the  erasure  had  caused.  He,  therefore,  began  a  little  way 
in  from  the  margin. 

12a.  Schechter  reads  i«u»  but  the  Ms.  has  no  i  and  the 
vowels  call  for  II«B>. 

12b.  The  reading  pa>  is  not  possible.  The  last  letter 
was  evidently  an  n  and  the  vowel  of  the  syllable  was  v. 
Read  orn>. 

15a.  Very  faint.    Read  'n  arm  nnan  an« 

16b.  Read  (muni)  yxa  (o'»a«  man) 

17b.  inn  is  clear  at  the  beginning  of  the  line 

18b.  Read  nmen  n^at*  nmip  iiaai 

18a.  There  is  no  i  before  noan. 

Page  2.  3a.  The  first  word  was  probably  nan* 

5b.  Read  ^mn  man  inprp  N^I 

16a.  The  text  is  as  follows  DTI^K  'anp  D'»on  D'»:n 
Schechter  suggests  reading  anon  but  the  first  letter  is 
decidedly  a  n. 

17a.  Read  n^rxi  jma  nn^»n  nan* 

Page  4.  Line  la.  The  last  word  is  most  likely  n'Jiaj 
and  not  00123. 

18  —  First  word  is  mm  not  mm. 

Page  6.  Line  Ib.  The  middle  word  is  blotted  and  rubbed 
but  it  was  most  probably  j?n>  i.  See  the  passage  in  Jeremiah 
8,  22-23  of  which  this  is  an  elaboration. 

3a.  Schechter  has  the  wrong  division  of  words.  Read 
bw  DIN  npnss  '3  instead  of  "jxji  m«n  p*m  '2 

8b.    The  last  word  is  njn  not  njn. 

12a.     DIBS  not  D>»O. 

Page  7.  Line  2a.  Schechter  reads  D'Nxnj  anj?tr  ntwan  'a 
D"nn  ^aa  but  the  text  ought  to  be  D'NSDJ  onytr  ntron  'a 


Page  8.  Line  2b.     The  Ms  reads  D'NXOJ  la  norm.     On 
line  three  the  scribe  made  a  mistake  and  marked  it  by  put- 

96 


ting  dots  over  the  letters,    tnn.     The  margin  has  the  word 
n»m.    It  is  possible  therefore  that  2b  read  nvms  no=m 


lOb.     The  last  word  is 

Page  9.  Line  3a.     Read  'n  njn  mo»  n'mn 

Page  10.  Line  Ib.     Ms  reads  us  not  IPPB. 

Page  11.  Line  5b.  Ms  reads  D'^waa  but  this  is  a  mistake 
for  DO'r»o.  See  6a. 

12a.     Read  tpsjjn. 

19a.     mp  nno  and  not  mpn  310. 

Page  12.  Line  6b.  The  last  part  is  abraded.  The  Ms 
has  B>B  hy  B'3j?<?oi  Schechter's  conjecture  of  tasana  is  satisfac- 
tory but  the  vowel  of  the  last  word  still  visible  was  v  hence 
pis  is  unsatisfactory.  Read  nrn. 

lib.  See  Ezekiel  23,  35.  The  line  ought  to  end  with  n 
Read  'n  Y?BM  iu  nnn. 

Page  13.  Line  18a.     Read  inoDn  IDHDI  uin  rma 

Page  14.  Line  1.  This  line  was  constructed  as  was 
18  on  page  13.  i:in  nma  opened  the  line.  ne>j?»  DK  can  be 
read  in  b.  The  line  ended  most  probably  with  rt  BM. 

2a.  The  fragment  of  the  u  and  the  ;in  show  continua- 
tion of  the  construction. 

2b.     mpn  ^IN  perhaps  with  the  same  ending  of  i1?  e»i. 

3b.     npi'  »h> 

4b.     Probably  (n^  mn)ij?  inpns. 

5b.     Perhaps  ^im  nrt)D»a  ontyyi 

6b.  The  Ms.  has  nn^i  hence  the  n  can  be  safely  con- 
jectured. 

9a.  itt-BJ  nynl7  m«  ins  The  nj?  are  to  be  seen  in  the  Ms. 
The  point  of  the  'j  still  is  visible  and  the  phrase  is  found  in 
line  12. 

9b.  r6i  to  be  seen  in  the  Ms.  The  vowels  however  are 
clear  and  would  point  to  a  reading  pnnrni. 

lla.     The  Ms.  reads  tfn  not  n>n. 

lib.     The  Ms.  has   IBOOO.     The  word  can  be   easily 

supplied  D'JiCBOO. 

97 


17b.     The  last  word  is  nonm. 

16b.  The  last  word,  or  what  is  left  of  it,  is  s.  We  want 
a  word  therefore  ending  in  i  and  in  which  the  s  would 
have  a  short  o.  The  word  was  most  probably  iris. 

73.  Cowley  and  Neubauer,  the  original  Hebrew  of  a 
Portion  of  Ecclesisaticus.     Introduction  p  28,  29. 

Dukes  Blumenlese  (above  quoted)  pages  31,  32,  67-84. 
See  literature  in  Jewish   Encyclopedia  Vol   2   p.   681 
at  end  of  article  Ben  Sira — Alphabets  of. 

74.  LXX  Swete  B  reads  —  on  xatpet  iraffiv  ols  /ucreT  6 
6eos  ffwrpiperai  de  5i'  aKa6apffiav  if/vxys- 

75.  Editions    of    and    Commentaries    to    Ben    Sira. 
Cowley  and  Neubauer. 

The  Original  Hebrew  of  a  Portion  of  Ecclesiasticus, 
Oxford  1897. 

Schechter  and  Taylor,  The  Wisdom  of  Ben  Sira,  Cam- 
bridge 1899. 

Hebraische  Text  des  Buches  Ecclesiasticus. 

Peters,  Freiburg,  1902.  Die  Weisheit  Jesus  Sirach, 
Smend,  Berlin  1906. 

See  Literature  in  Smend  above  quoted  pp  XII-XIII. 

76.  ]pn  »H2O  Ttpjn   nxj  TT  in  I'TK  in'hiD  njnn  PR 
int?*  flR    tnjon  SIN  nnniR  »n  DJHS  iispsn  hy    rm^no  DJIB 
:ni»moi  n'Jtri  niWNi  ojre 

Immediately  following  this  one  there  is  another  with  a 
double  D'laist  trn. 
»n   tnanm   p^juinm    D'^rn  in  I^N  nr  nx  nr  i»N3i 

:  ^aaatr  o'ttsn  n'n^n  «i«  onoi«  trn  maun  SIR 

77.  Wildeboer,  Kurzer  Kommentar  zum  A.  T.  Proverbs, 
Introduction  p  XIII. 

78.  Frankenberg  H.  K.  zum  A.  T.  in  loco. 

79.  Toy,  Proverbs,  International  Critical  Commentary. 
Introduction  page  XXX  and  with  special  reference  to  Pro. 
30,  11. 

80.  Die  Kleine  Propheten,  Nowack,  HK  zum  A.  T. 

81.  Konig,   Stylistik,    Poetik   und    Rhetorik.    Leipzig 

1900.  page  163. 

98 


82.  Harper   Amos   and    Hosea   in    the    International 
Critical  Commentary. 

83.  Hastings,  Dictionary  of  the  Bible.  Vol.  4  page  109. 

84.  Harper,  Amos  and  Hosea,  above  quoted. 

85.  Wildeboer,  Proverbs,  above  quoted,  Introduction 
page  XII. 

86.  See    article,    Languages    of    the    Old    Testament, 
Hastings,  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  Vol.  3.  page  34  a,  b  and 
literature  there  cited. 

87.  See  page  6  of  text. 

88.  See  reference  on  page  27  of  text. 

89.  See  note  72. 

90.  See  Cheyne  Job  and  Solomon  page  1 1 8  ff,  New  York 
1887.    Toy,  Proverbs,  Introduction  page  XX. 

91 .  Toy,  Proverbs  in  loco. 

92.  Nowack,  Die  Kleine  Propheten,  Hk  zum  A.  T.  in 
loco. 

93.  LXX    Ed.    Swete    B.         €7/cco/ua£'o/i«'coi'    ducaluv 
ev<j>pavOr](rovTai,  Xaot  apx6vTO)j>  de  acre/Scop  arivovaiv  avdpes. 

94.  Toy,  Proverbs,  in  loco. 

95.  Jewish    Quarterly    Review,    Genizah    Fragments, 
Vol.  16,  page  433  line  6. 

96.  Talmud  Babli  Baba  Bathra  12a  epij?  asm  IO»OK  IOK 

N'SJO 

97.  Cheyne,  Job  and  Solomon,  above  quoted. 

98.  Hosea  4,  14d. 

99.  See  Mishnah  Yadayim  Chapter  3.  Mishnah  5. 

100.  See  later  Note  116. 

101.  Frankenberg  Proverbs  Hk  zum  Alten  Testament, 
in  loco. 

102.  Toy  Proverbs,  International  Critical  Commentary 
in  loco. 

103.  Wildeboer,  Proverbs  Kurzer  Hand  K. 

104.  Toy  Proverbs  page  192. 

105.  Revised  Version  "that  make  a  man  an  offender 
in  a  cause"  or  marginal  reading  "make  men  to  offend  by 

99 


their  words."  Marti,  Jesaia  Kurzer  Hk,  in  loco,  "sie  sind 
DIK  'K'tano  die  Leute  schuldig  hinstellend  1212,  also  die 
Denuncianten  ;  man  kann  sich  nur  fragen,  ob  im  heissen 
soll'mit  Worten,  mit  geschickter  Verleumdung,  oder  nicht: 
um  eines  Wortes  Willen."  But  opposed  to  this  is  that 
x'tann  is  not  used  in  this  sense  of  denounce  or  condemn. 
For  the  proper  use  of  the  Hiphil  see  1  Kings  14,  16;  16,  13; 
15,30;  15,26,34;  16,26;  22,53.  2  Kings  3,  3;  10,29,31; 
13,  2,  11;  14,  24;  15,  9,  18,  24,  28;  23,  15;  21,  16;  13,  6; 
17,21;  Nehemiahl3,26;  Jer32,35;  Eccl.5,5;  Deut.  24,4; 
1  Kings  16,  2;  21,22;  2  Kings  21,  11;  Exodus  23,  36. 

Duhm  Isaiah  Hand  K.  renders  im  "with  words"  and 
interprets  the  whole  phrase  to  mean  "Menschen  schuldig 
zu  machen,  als  schuldig  hinzustellen."  Duhm  therefore 
takes  'N>::rra  —  ";>tyio  but  for  this  as  noted  above  there  is  no 
parallel. 

Dillman,  Der  Prophet  Jesaia,  Leipzig,  1890  sets  aside 
the  interpretation  "die  Leute  schuldig  sprechen  in  einer 
Rechtasche"  also  the  interpretation  "  verurtheilen  um 
eines  Wortes  Willen"  and  "die  Leute  verleiten  mit  Worten 
zu  siindigen."  He  also  maintains  that  ^'tsnn  cannot  equal 


Cheyne  Prophecies  of  Isaiah,  in  loco  is  open  to  the  same 
objection  of  misinterpretation  of  WEno. 

The  reference  is  here  undoubtedly  to  the  oyn  '^tro  again, 
who  have  misled  the  people  by  their  word  —  word  being  used 
in  the  technical  sense,  every  phrase  being  called  a  in, 
for  the  proverbs  are  often  called  D'nrn  nm,  D'nsn  ^vm  being  a 
much  later  phrase,  see  Ben  Sira  Hebrew  text  3,  29  —  Neither 
has  the  second  phrase  any  relationship  with  judicial  mat- 
ters. They  lay  snares  for  the  reprover  at  the  gate  is  the 
same  thought  as  miton  of  Is.  28,  22.  It  is  the  mocking 
derision  of  and  the  picking  of  flaws  in  the  phrases  of  the 
prophet  that  is  here  referred  to. 

106.     Giesebricht,  Jeremias  Hand  K  zum  A.  T.  in  loco. 

100 


107.  The  Hebrew  text  would  be  ^n  mrp  'br'n  mn»  "Js'n 
nan  npB»  mrp 

108.  LXX  Ed.  Swete.  B. 

109.  Midrash  Shir  hashirim  1,1. 

110.  See  Die  Salomo  Sage  in  der  Semitischen  Literatur, 
Georg  Salzberger  Berlin — Nikolassee,  1907.     Koran,  Suras 
21,  27,  34,  38.    See  also  Literature  in  Jewish  Encyclopedia, 
Vol  11  page  444,  446. 

111.  The  numbers  as  given  in  the  text  are  vague.  The 
LXX  (Swete)  has  five  thousand  instead  of  the  three  thous- 
and.    The  counting  would  presume  a  copy  of  some  book 
whose  proverbs  could  be  counted,  but  the  whole  form  of  the 
passage  is  against  this.    The  numbers  are  therefore  used  to 
indicate  indefinite  rather  than  definite  number.   See  Kittel, 
Die    Biicher    der    Konige,    Handkommentar   zum    A.    T. 
Gottingen    1900.      Benzinger,    Kurzer    hand    kommentar 
zum  A.  T. 

112.  See  Yalkut  Shimoni,  in  loco. 

113.  Schechter,    Jewish    Quarterly    Review,    Vol    3 
pages  682  ff. 

Neubauer  and  Cowley,  Original  Hebrew  of  Ecclesiasticus, 
Introduction;  Reifman,  Haasif,  Vol  III. 

114.  The  Greek  text  of  Ben  Sira  51,  6  reads  as  follows: 
jScKuAei   5ia/5oXr?   7Xco<rcrr;s   adutov.     The   Greek   6a   is    the 
Hebrew  5c.     Greek  has  5a,  b.  6a,  b,  c.     The  Hebrew  has 
5abc,  6ab.    For  the  Greek,  as  above  given,  the  Hebrew  has 
naio  ]ie6  'xm  for  which  see  Strack  who  prefers  to  Jeremiah 
9,  7.     But  the  better  reference  is  Ps  120,  where  the  other 
parallels  are  found  ipa*  insv  and  nmo  pe6. 

115.  njpia^  nn.»  tytroi    D<CN  nm  D'JTN  n^08»ai  n'j'j;  IIKD 
D>nfitr     im  n^»«  ty  inn*  D'MXO  o^n  fyn1?    rtz  a^n  -pirn  inn 

8»13KD   12^   KSQ3    K^>. 

The  author  is  here  concerned  with  the  praise  of  nosn. 
That,  he  says,  is  the  distinctive  property  of  man.  The 
function  of  the  five  senses  (the  author  adds  a  sixth — motion) 

101 


are  shared  by  all  creatures,  but  speech,  the  means  by  which 
narn  is  transmitted  is  given  to  man  alone.  On  this  see 
further  on  page  7  line  2  cnn  ityaa  D'KSD:  nnytr  ntron  >: 
rmsn  TH  NS»J  x1?  0^1221 

For  njpt!^>  Schechter  proposes  to  read  ne'j;1?.  See  Genesis 
29,  30. 

116.  See  Zunz  Gottesdienstliche  Vortraege  page  320. 
See  also  note  by  D.  Kaufman  in  the  Revue  des  Etudes 
Juives  Vol  4  page  161  and  Perles,  Revue  des  Etudes  Juives 
Vol  3,  pages  116-118  and  Joel,  Blicke  in  die  Religions- 
geschichte  zum  Anfang  de  Zweiten  Christlichen  Jahrhun- 
derts  Breslau  and  Leipzig  1880.  page  74. 

The  Jerushalmi  passge  (Talmud  Jerushalmi  Sanhedrin 
28a)  reads  as  follows  concerning  the  ouism  Dnso, 

nsD  11:12  DOismn      Dnuoa     toipn    SIN     IOIK  wpj;  >n 
'  nso  ^IK  :najp     p  nsci 


In  the  discussion  on  the  same  topic  in  the  Babli  (San- 
hedrin lOOb)  and  touching  upon  the  same  Mishnah,  it  is 
to  be  noticed  that  Ben  Sira  is  mentioned  and  Ben  Laanah 
is  not.  The  omission  is  to  be  accounted  for  by  the  possibility 
that  between  the  time  of  the  two  Talmuds  Ben  Laanah  had 
lost  vogue  and  was  no  more  a  vital  subject  of  discussion 
or  illustration.  At  any  rate  it  would  go  to  show  that  Ben 
Laanah  whether  that  be  the  name  of  a  book  or  of  an  author 
was  an  early  writer  or  book. 

The  passage  in  which  Ben  Tagla  is  mentioned  is  in 
Koheleth  Rabba  to  12,  12  and  reads  as  follows: 

irnn  -pro  diDan  'izv  naino  "intn   un  nono  vnn" 

1BD1    KI'D      ]3    1BD    JU3    1DU3    D1J33    N1PI    nolHD       D'lfiC 

Joel  above  cited  thinks  that  Ben  Tagla  was  an  apoca- 
lyptic book  n'jj  and  assumes  that  Ben  Laanah  was  of  the 
same  nature  but  the  fact  that  wherever  the  books  are  men- 
tioned it  is  in  connection  with  Ben  Sira,  whose  character  is 
too  well  defined  as  a  proverbial  book,  militates  against  any 

102 


apocalyptic  theory.  Fiirst  (See  Jewish  Encyclopedia 
article,  Ben  Tagla,  Ginzberg,)  says  that  Laanah  is  Apollonius 
of  Thyane  and  that  Tagla  is  Empedocles.  This  attempted 
identification  however  is  too  remote.  Equally  remote  and 
improbable  is  the  identification  suggested  by  Linderman 
(See  Kaufman,  above  quoted)  with  Eusebius  and  Jerome. 
Perles  regards  K^D  p  as  a  mistake  for  ntyn  p  and  would 
see  in  it  the  "fox  parables." 

In  the  n:jtf  p  he  sees  the  nij^n  neo  the  washers  books 
He  reads  the  text  therefore  KVD  p  ^twa 
rnftran  B'NJ'JS  m'Jtrao.  But  unless  we  have  in  the  last 
two  real  actually  current  books  alluded  to,  instead  of  a  class 
of  books,  as  Perles  interpretation  would  make  both,  the 
examples  (and  both  are  quoted  as  examples)  would  not 
be  parallels  with  Ben  Sira.  And  if  D'tyitr  ni^etsc  refer  to  a 
class,  there  could  not  be  any  real  valid  objection  to  them. 
See  above  on  the  a^jm?  m^woof  Rabbi  Meir  and  of  Jochanan 
Ben  Zaccai. 

See  also  note  by  D.  Kaufman  in  Revue  des  Etudes 
Juives  4,  161  containing  a  quotation  cited  by  Steinschneider 
(Hebr.  Bibli.  VIII,  65.)  as  being  from  the  x-npn  l»p  of 
Messer  Leon,  commenting  on  the  passage  in  Sanhedrin  and 
Ben  Laana  as  follows: 

mn  '»on  D'^nm  nnn  on»     onsen  DJTIN  TPIO  »JNI  nay  neo  jur 

:  D'jnnpn  D't6o  oneo  nnty  nitron  'Bi 

In  the  absence  of  more  extended  mention  of  either  Ben 
Tagla  or  Ben  Laanah  in  the  sources,  and  in  the  further 
absence  of  any  quotation  from  either,  all  that  can  be 
warrantably  inferred  is  that  from  the  fashion  in  which  they 
are  mentioned  and  from  the  context  they  must  refer  to 
actual  books  and  cannot  be  merely  terms  for  a  class  of  writ- 
ings; furthermore  they  must  have  been  early  proverbial 
collections,  hence  their  appearance  with  Ben  Sira,  that  they 
were  at  one  time  on  the  brink  of  being  admitted  into  the 
canon,  but  failing  in  this  they  were  lost  so  that  the  Talmud 
Babli  does  not  even  mention  them. 

103 


117.  See  (a)  Proverbs  12,  4;    18,  22;   19,  14;   30,  20ff; 
5,  15-20;  11,  16;  31,  10-31; 

(b)  Proverbs  2,  16-19;  5,  2-14;  5,  20ff;  6,  24;  7,  5ff; 
11,22;  19,13;  21,9;  25,24;  22,14;  23,7; 

BenSira9,  1-9;  12,14;  19,2;  25,8;  25,13,17-24;  26, 
1-2;  7,23. 

118.  Strack  text  of  BenSira  38,  15.    inviy  *ji£  «ain  IB>K 


See  Smend  Die  Weisheit  des  Jesus  ben  Sirach,  Berlin, 
1906,  p.  342. 

Cf.  Soferim  15  Halachah  10.     ourp^  C'tonntf  ma 
119.     Strack  text  38,  1.     'rx  p^n  in*  D^  iris  'is1?  KBIT  'jn 
onn  Kfin  njn     niN»o  KB*'   ito  n«»i  NBTI  oar   ^K     rwn 


120.       mai  IBIDI  i^    in  I^NI  wan  ftiy^  p^n  on^  I»K 

]tn  coipi  n»j;^  pni  D'KBnnty 

See  also  the  following  note  in  Pesikta  Rabbati,  Ed. 
Friedmann  page  42b  mns  mxo^  nine   ij'N»  nnen   M^  S  ID« 
1? 
The  note  reads  as  follows:     K^T  Njnn  ION  N?na  n^  f"\  ion 

mne  Kn>  nnma^  n^ns 

See  also  Kiddushin  82a  nn   inonn   lotyn     IOIK  mm'    m 

a  pn 


The  phrase  concerning  the  physician  is  not  of  the  lan- 
guage and  style  of  the  rest  of  the  passage  and  is  evidently 
a  quotation  —  most  likely  a  popular  saying. 

121.  Hebrew  Text:  mr  D'^csn  nno  JMOB^  anp.i  but 
see  Kittel,  Biblia  Hebraica,  Leipzig,  1906  and  the  note  that 
the  Syriac  had  o^ioan  nit. 

LXX  (Swete  B)  reads  Kal  eyyvs  TOV  aKovav  v-jrep  56jua  T&V 
cufrpovuv  Ovala  <rov  it  therefore  points  to  a  text  which  had  the 
same  consonants  but  it  read  different  vowels  and  had  nno.  The 
Massoretic  reading  however  is  better.  Barton,  Ecclesiastes, 
International  Ciritcal  Com.  New  York  1908.  has  "and  to 
draw  near  to  obey  is  better  than  that  fools  should  give 

104 


sacrifice."  This  construction  of  mip  used  as  an  infinitive 
subject  is  maintained  by  Nowack,  Hand  Kommentar  in 
loco.  Wildeboer,  Kurzer  Hand  Kommentar,  in  loco,  has 
the  imperative  continued  through  to  anp  "aber  man 
iibersetzt  besser  mit  De  Jong  unter  anderung  in  anpi  'Hiite 
deinen  Fuss,  so  wirst  du  dem  gehorsamsein  naher  kommen 
als  wenn  die  Thoren  Schlachtopfer  bringen."  Graetz, 
Koheleth,  Leipzig  1871,  in  loco  takes  anp  as  an  adjective. 
Volck,  Kurzgefaster  Kommentar  zum  A.  T.  Nordlingen 
1889  in  loco,  takes  it  as  an  infinitive  absolute  and  subject 
of  the  clause  as  does  also  Hitzig  Der  Prediger  Salomo's 
Leipzig  1847.  The  rendering  of  anp  as  an  infinitive  has 
against  it  that  a  ma  must  be  inserted.  The  second  rendering 
cannot  be  maintained  seeing  that  rar  D'^csn  nn»  jnotr1?  anpi 
is  most  probably  an  old  selection  quoted  by  the  author. 
We  take  anp  therefore  as  an  adjective  in  the  sense  of  ma 
or  "near"  "pleasing"  i.  e.  to  God.  Who  are  the  D^'DS? 
Jastrow  suggests  they  are  the  priests.  But  that  is  a  modern 
application  and  is  too  harsh  a  description  of  the  priestly 
class  even  for  the  sceptical  writer  of  Koheleth.  The 
sacrifice  is  of  course  a  literal  sacrifice;  the  D>^D:I  are  those, 
then,  who  imagine  that  through  sacrifices  alone  can  they  be 
accounted  righteous. 

122.  Note  a  similar  tradition  concerning  Hillel  in 
Treatise  Soferim  16,  9.  as  follows: 

mjits^n  ^  i^'BN  no1?  tfv  o'orn  nm  arj?  «"?»  ^n  iy  1'ty  no* 
m»n  nn»B>  D^tyjn  D'xy  nrptr  ntypm  rnjnsi  onn  nrntr  I^*K 
:  nns-ai  ontr  nmt?  manm 


105 


Index  of  Passages  in  the  Bible  and 
Apocrypha  Quoted  or  Discussed 


Genesis  Page 

2,18 19 

42,43 55 

Exodus 

23,8 49 

Leviticus 

19,16 75 

Numbers 

21,27-30 21 

23,7-8 21 

24,3, 15,  20,  21,  23.  ...21 

Deut. 

3,11-13 23 

14,14 18 

16,19 48,49 

23,19 30 

28,2 43 

28,37 21 

29,28 42 

31,9 

Joshua 
6,26.. 


70 


15 


Judges 

8,21 15,25 

9,2b 15 

9,8-15 19,65 

12,3 16 

14,14 16,20 

14,18 76 

17,6 16 

21,25 16 


I  Samuel  Page 

3,20 17 

10,12 2,3 

14,6 17,68 

15,22 16,51,72 

15,23 16 

16,7 17,25,69 

19,5 16 

19,24 2 

24,13 16,25 

24,14 43 

24,15 16,37,66,67 

25,25 17,25 

26,20 16,66 

II  Samuel 

5,8 

9,8 

12,1-6 

12,4 


7 

17 

20 

38 

14,5-7 20,38,59 

14,14 18 

15,6-7 59 

19,4 18 

20,18 18,59 

22,25-27 12 


I  Kings 

2 

5,  12ff. 
8,32.. 
9,7 


23 

60 

48 

21 

12,10 18,25,38 

14,15 18 

16,34 15 

20,11 18,25 

20,31-40 20 


106 


II   Kings 

Page 

9,32  

29,35 

14,9  

19,65 

19,1  

20 

21,13.... 

18 

Isaiah 

1,3  

....3,25,66,5 

5,1-6.  ... 

20,76 

5,11  

63 

5,21  

63 

6,3  

69 

9,9  

59 

10,  15.  .. 

.3,  5,  6,  38,  27, 

76,25 

14,10.... 

1,11 

14  

21 

17,6  

29,35 

22,13.... 

3,25 

24,17-18. 

7 

27,24-28. 

20 

28,14..  . 

3,5,52,54,55, 

56,58 

28,20.... 

5,25,37 

28,21.... 

..  ..  8 

28,23-29. 

6,55,76 

28,24-25. 

27 

29,9ff... 

56 

29,20.... 

56 

32,6-8... 

6,25 

33,13-16. 

6,25 

•37,3  

6 

40,12-16. 

6,25,27 

40,14.... 

68 

43,27... 

55 

44,8.... 

45 

45,9-10. 

6,25,27 

49,15... 

6,27 

49,24... 

6,25,27 

55,2.... 

45 

66,8.... 

6,25,27 

66,2.... 

9 

Jeremiah  Page 

7,4 58 

8,7 ......7,25,66 

8,22 7 

9,22-23 7,25,44 

13,23 7,38,66 

17,5-8 7,25 

18,6 7,76 

18,14 7,25,27,65 

18,18 47 

23,5 48 

23,28 7,65 

23 52 

24,9 21 

31, 28.... 2,  25,  38, 58,  65 

32,14 9 

48,43 7,11 

49,9 8,25,76 

50,35 49 

51,57 50 

Ezekiel 

7,26 47 

11,3 8,58 

12,22 8,59 

14,8 21 

16,44 9,16,25 

17,3-10 21,67 

18,2 1,4,25,58 

24,33ff 8 

Hosea 

4,  Ib 9 

4,11 9,63 

4, 14a 9,25,36 

6,2 29,35 

6,3 9,25,65 

6,4b 9,25,65 

6,6 9,16,25,51 

7,5 56 

8,  7a 9,12,25,65 


107 


Hosea — Continued          Page 

10,13 10,12,25,65 

10,12 10,25 

13,2 10 

13,3 25,68 

14,10 10,25 

Micah 

2,4 11,21 

3,11 58 

5,4 29,32 

6,7-8 51,72 

6,9 6 

Amos 

3,3 10,25,27 

3,4 10,25,27,66 

3,5 10,25,27,66 

3,6 10,25,27 

3,7 22 

5,18 8,11,66 

5,24 51,72 

6,12 11,25,27,76 

6,13 11 

.58 


Obadiah 
5       

.  .8,76 

Jonah 
4.10.. 

..11 

Habakkuk 

1,14 11,25,66 

2,4 19 

2,6 11,57 

3,8 27 

Haggai 

1,2 59 

1,6 11,76 

Zephaniah 

3,3-4 49 

3,5 48 


Zechariah 
4,6  

Page 

19 

10,3 

19 

Malachi 
1,2.  . 

59 

1,7.. 

59 

1,  12 

59 

3,7  

59 

3.8.. 

.  .59 

3,13-14 59 

Psalms 

1 7 

6,6 12,73 

7,15 11,65,73 

7,16-17 12 

9,16 12 

15 6 

16,11 45 

18,25-28 12 

25,14 22 

25,34 13,28 

27,12 71 

30,10 12,27,73 

31,1 42 

32,8-10 12,50,13 

33,6 68 

33,9 9 

33,11 9 

33,13 13 

34 13,28,50 

34,12-15 

34,20 

35,8 12 

37 13,28,51 

37,16 13,22 

37,30 48 

37,35 14 

37,39 28 

40,5 21 

49,5 14 

50,15-20 69,14 


108 


Psalms — Continued         Page 

62,12 29 

69,5 14,19 

78,14 14 

78,2 21 

79,2-3 44 

79,9 22 

80,9-10 21 

88,11-13 12,27,73 

89,49 14,27,73 

90,10 14 

91,7 22 

92,2-3 22 

94,  8-10....  13, 14,  27,50 

102,27 9 

105 14 

106 14 

107 14 

107,43 15 

111,3 14 

112,3 14 

111 14,28 

112 14,28 

115,5 45 

118,8-9 15 

119,51 56 

119 15,28 

132,4 15 

145 15,28 

Proverbs 

•1,6 47,57 

1,21-22 5 

1,22 54,56 

1,20-33 72 

22..  43 

3^34 56,57,75 

3,11-12 73 

4,1 6 

4,9 43 

6,4 15 

6,6 9 


Page 

6,16 34 

6,16-19 29 

8..  ..70 


8,13 
8,32 
8,35 
9.. 


75 

13 

43 

70 

9,7 57 

9,12 55 

10,8 9 

10,10 9 

11,3 75 

11,4 43 

11,6 72 

11,8 72 

11,14 22 

11,4-10 47 

11,9-12 27 

11,30-31 72 

13,1 57 

13,20 26 

14,1 67 

14,6 57 

14,9 56 

14,34 75 

15,12-14 27 

15,8 51 

15,16 22 

15,12 57 

16,6 51 

16,12-15 27 

16,17-18 27 

16,20-21 27 

16,22-23 27 

16,30 13 

17,15 29 

17,23 49 

18,20-22 27 

19,25 56 

19,28 56 

19,29 57 


109 


Proverbs — Continued     Page 

20,3 44 

20,10 30 

20,22-24 27 

20,7-9 27 

20,24-26 27 

20,12 29 

20,7 72 

21,3 16,51 

21,11 13,56 

21,15 48 

21,24 57 

21,27 51 

22,10 57 

22,17 47 

2,26-28 27 

22,17-24 61 

24,19-20 72 

24,16 72 

24,22 29 

24,30-34 27,50 

24,23 47 

24,33 61 

25,6-7 27 

25,11 26,67 

25,12 26 

25,14 26 

25,8 26 

26,18-19 26 

26,24-25 26 

26,24 67 

26,11 67 

26,27 12 

27,3 29 

27,10 26 

27,17 67 

27,21 67 

27,23-27 27 

28,10 26 

28,28 49 

29,2 49 

29,8 52,54 


Page 

29,16 49 

29,12 ....76 

29,13 29 

29,18 51 

30,11-14 36 

30,7-9 74 

30 61,34 

30,15 30 

30,18 30 

30,10-31 34 

30,21 30 

30,29 30 

30,  Iff 34 

30,29-31 29,36 

30,21-23 29,36 

30,18-20 29 

30,15-16 29 

31 34,61,75 

31,1 59 

33,10-31 28 

Job 

2,4 1 

5,2ff 50 

5,17 73 

5,5-6 1,65 

5,7 1,65 

5,19 72 

5,19-23 : 1 

6,5-6 27,66 

7,1 27,76 

8,15 8 

8,11 27,66,76 

12 72 

12,11 27 

12,5-7 1 

12,11-25 1 

13,14 16 

14,28 1 

14,6-10 1,65 

14,18-19 1 


110 


Job — Continued  Page 

15,  20-35....  1,12,  56,  72 

16,20 56 

17,6 21 

18,5-20 1 

19,20 19 

20,5 1 

27,14-23 1 

27,13 56 

28,20-28 70 

28,28 72 

31,40 1,76 

33,14 29 

33,23 55 

33,29 29 

34,3 1 

38,5 6 

40,5 29 


Song  of  Songs 
8,6ff.. 


Lamentations 

3,5 

3,47 


15 


Ecclesiastes 

1,15 1 

2,14 1 

3,1-8 1 

4,2-3 1,30 

4,17 72 

5,2 1 

5,6 1 

5,9 1 

6,9-12 1 

7,1-13 1 

9,4 66 

9,16-18 1 

10,18... 1 

10,20b 1 

10,1-13 1 


Page 

10,8 12 

12,13 45 


Daniel 
4,24.. 
1  Ch. 
11,6.. 


.43 
.18 


2  Ch. 

7,20 21 

9,1 20 

32,31 55 

Wisdom  of  Solomon 

Chap.  10-19 22 

2,23 73 

3,4 74 

Tobit 

4,3-21 22-23 

12,6 22 

12,6-11 22 


12,7 


22 


12, 7b 22 

12, 8b 22 

12,9 


I  Esdras 
3ff.. 


22 


23 


Baruch 

3,29-30 23 

3,29-35 23 

Ben  Sira 

2,5 67,73 

2,11 72 

2,16 43 

3 75 

3,9 42 

3,8b 43 

3,1-16 42 

3,18 75 

3,29 43,53 


111 


Ben  Sira — Continued      Page 

3,24 47 

3,29-35 70 

3,30 43,74 

4,1-10 42 

4,6 75 

6,5-17 42 

6,6 43 

6,14 43 

6,15 42 

6,31 43 

7,24-25 75 

7,29-31 52 

8,8-9 51 

9,1-9 42 

10,3 77 

10 76 

10,7 75 

10,12 75 

11,3 66 

11,7 72 

13,15-17 66 

13,18 67 

15,14 68,70 

15,11-17 71 

16,16 63 

21,26 45 

23,9 68 

23,14-15 65 

23,16 30,44 

24 70 

24,12-17 66 

25,1 30 

25,2 30 

25,7 30 

25,15 67 

25,16 67 

26,5 30 

26,7 67 

26,11 67 

26,18 26,67 

26,28 30,31,77 


Page 

27,9 18,66 

27,25-27 12 

28,2 72,75 

28,5 67 

28,20-28 70 

29,1 75 

31,15 76 

32,6 67 

34,11 63 

34,20 16,74 

34,25 71 

36,1-5 74 

37,18 30 

37,25 70,73 

38,15 77 

38,24 76 

38,33 47 

39,1 77 

39,1-5 71 

40,18-26 30,33 

42,15 68 

42,15c 68 

43,27 69 

44,6 71 

Chaps.  44-50 23 

47,17 60 

50,25 31 

50,27 61,63 

50,25-26 30 

51 28 

51,16 63 

51,30 61 

1  Mac 

1,26-28 44 

1,39-40 44 

2,7-13 44 

2,44 44 

2,51-63 23,71 

3,3-8,9 44 

3,18 17 


112 


Mac — Continued         Page 

3,45 44 

7,19 44 

9,20-21 44 

9,41 44 

14,6-15 44 


2  Mac 
2,32.. 

Page 
23 

7,14  

73 

14,46  

73 

15,27  

17 

15.39.. 

.23 

113 


IREQKMU  LHWn  I 


